That Which Is Already Forged
by Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Summary: Xehanort tried to forge the X-blade. Nothing happened, and so he was defeated. But Xehanort doesn't admit defeat, and he always has one final, unpredictable move, although sometimes even he doesn't know the repercussions. Consequently, forgotten memories and truths come to light that leave everyone scrambling. He's far closer to the X-blade, and his goal than anyone realized.
1. The X-blade

Note: This picks up ideally at the end of KHIII, not taking 2.8 or canon 3 into account (although it does take DDD into account). This is just a 'what if' kind of thing and isn't meant to be too serious. FYI.

xXx

They'd won.

It hadn't been easy. The thirteen semi-Xehanorts had been more than just difficult to beat, but they'd done it. They'd taken down each and every one of the darknesses, including the mastermind himself...or, so they'd thought.

The fight had ended with Xehanort's so-called 'original' body on the ground before them, beginning to dissolve into little specks of black that vanished as they spread. It was a familiar sight and meant that, at least for a little while, Xehanort should be out of the picture. So Sora had focused on the casualties that actually mattered.

His first mistake. The worst part of it? Sora knew better. Or he _should_ have in any case. Their victories never so clear cut. Maybe that, in and of itself, spoke of how tired he'd been.

The first thing Sora really saw was the battle zone. Xehanort had known where to strike to get at Sora, Riku and Kairi. They'd heard about and arrived at their home world—their island—just in time to see Xehanort practically rip it in half. The treehouse that had withstood so many storms lay in rubble around the beach, half of it floating in the water. All that remained of the dock were a few stubs in the water and sand, and the shack that had always seemed so safe to Sora was nowhere to be seen. In it's place stood a gaping hole in the side of the rock it had been built into.

Sora didn't want to really think about how long it would take to rebuild it all. Of course, it never really crossed his mind that they wouldn't rebuild it, because he would make sure that it was restored as best as it could be.

Sighing at the sight, he shook his head and began to take role. A heavily injured Lea had stumbled to a prone Isa's side, hesitantly shaking him, talking to him quietly and trying to get the other boy to respond—making sure that every possible trace of Xehanort had left him. Sora didn't know if Lea's hope of getting his friend back would be fulfilled, but at least they weren't attacking each other. Given Isa's slightly blank face, Sora couldn't even tell how aware he was. Probably not very, but Lea didn't look to be panicking, so Sora filed them under 'okay for now'.

Kairi looked a bit battered from the two battles that she'd won, but Riku had already made it to her side, throwing an arm around her shoulder in an attempt to help her rejoin the group. She had a bright, proud grin on her face despite how worn she seemed, and Sora felt an ache deep in his heart. Even King Mickey had had to be rescued a few times, but not Kairi. Sora wasn't sure whether he should be proud of her as a friend or disappointed that she didn't need him anymore. Both she and Riku went under the same category as Lea and Isa on Sora's mental list.

King Mickey himself seemed only slightly worse for wear. He lay sprawled on a pile of debris nearby, trying to fan himself a paper fan that he'd produced from somewhere. Sora wasn't sure where he'd gotten that and wondered idly if he could get one himself. Shaking his head again, he moved on.

Donald and Goofy were...actually, they weren't anywhere to be seen. Sora straightened a little, unable to help a pang of worry from shooting up his spine.

He turned in a few slow circles, taking in as much of the battle-damaged area around them as he could from his current position. Sora felt exhausted, and while he knew he'd be able to move if Donald and Goofy needed him, he couldn't help but hope that they had just gotten distracted away from the battlefield.

After he'd spun around enough to make himself slightly dizzy, he gave it up and figured he and the king would need to try and drag the two friends back from wherever they'd (hopefully) ended up getting into their tiff. Because that's what it had to be. One of them (probably Goofy) had said something just ridiculous enough that they'd started on each other to the point of... not finding the rest of them after a really bad fight... And making them worry... And not checking with their King...

The shiver of worry turned into an actual shudder and Sora turned to the king to suggest they go looking for the two, but his slight dizziness suddenly increased to the point that the world practically turned upside down. It all happened so fast. Before he could even open his mouth and say anything to the mouse. He stumbled, unable to keep himself upright.

That quickly, he found himself looking up at sky with the sandy ground spinning and rocking underneath his back. A loud burst of noise sounded around him, going straight from his ears to his twisting stomach, causing it to clench and try to claw it's way up his throat. A lot of people had just said his name. He didn't respond.

The sky had begun to darken almost as fast as it had when the Heartless had first come to Destiny Island, the only difference this second time being the hundreds of sparkles of light that had jabbed at his vision as well. It wasn't a pleasant dichotomy. He'd closed his eyes, which did manage to help stop the sparks of light, though the darkness that consumed him afterwords made the twisting, dizzy sensation a thousand times worse.

Sora remembered thinking that maybe... Maybe he'd been more hurt than he thought...

And then it felt as if the ground had swallowed him, dropping him into the eye of a hurricane.

He didn't know what was going on or what had happened or why. He only fell, and fell, and fell.

The sudden, stable feeling (without a landing at all, whatsoever) caused him to gasp and risk trying to open his eyes again. Thankfully, nothing hurt, but they widened in surprise. The blackness was still there, but it seemed different—larger somehow. What was worse, though, was the figure that drew his gaze almost immediately. A figure he'd hoped he'd never see again.

Xehanort.

"This is your fault," the man hissed as he stalked forward threateningly. "It was perfect but you just had to meddle! You foolish child!"

Sora stumbled to his feet, backing away from the madman awkwardly. He desperately tried to call his Keyblade to defend himself only to find the part of his heart that let him pull the sword into being had somehow become impossible to reach. He refused to let the stab of fear he felt at that show on his face though.

Xehanort, in an uncharacteristically aggressive move, darted towards Sora, hands outstretched towards his throat. The teen barely managed to dodge in his surprise.

"You need to realize that there is no hope in fighting me! Like every other Keyblade master before you!" He took another wild swing, and Sora managed a controlled dodge this time, back flipping so he had some distance and could smirk in the face of that frankly dumb declaration.

"Then why did we win?" he crowed, crossing his arms haughtily just to see Xehanort get that little extra bit angrier. Maybe he shouldn't provoke him, but he couldn't help himself at this point.

"You didn't win because this isn't over! I'll find a way! I will have my revenge! And I will achieve my goals!" With that, he dove forward again, this time reaching to grab Sora's arm and dropping to sweep his legs out from under him.

Sora, while not feeling the physical fatigue that he had felt moments ago when he'd been with his friends, was still mentally exhausted. He didn't have it in him to keep dodging the evil genius and trade verbal barbs too, so he focused on the fight. He managed to jump over the leg and somehow avoid the grab, but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up for very long.

So Sora attacked despite not being able to access his Keyblade. It was his second mistake.

All Sora knew of hand to hand combat had been learned while sparring with Riku and their other childhood friends years ago on Destiny Island. Since then all he'd really learned were sword techniques and magic. It meant he lacked coordination, skill, and muscle memory. All he had was the vague sense of where to hit to make it hurt and a few years of battle-honed reflexes. Really it was the only reason he stood any chance against the crazy man.

Or so he thought.

For a few moments, when his initial barrage managed to throw Xehanort back, he thought he might actually be able to at least hold his own. Then the madman grinned right as Sora threw another punch, and he reached out faster than he'd moved before, catching the brunet's fist in his own.

"Even in your mind you aren't strong enough to win."

Part of Sora tried to put that together, even as he braced for the inevitable consequences of his current position. What did he mean by that? The rest of him couldn't help but stare in shock and more than a little fear because the man had just caught his attack like it was nothing.

And then he felt agony in his gut and he was _flying_ upwards and away from Xehanort who just watched with that self-assured grin. Then he jumped towards Sora, who knew he couldn't really do anything in mid air. It had always been a problem he'd had during battle.

"Without access to your heart, you are nothing!" Xehanort said as he zoomed up to meet Sora in mid air. "Your mind is weak under the chains of your own creation!"

He swept a kick from above and Sora had just enough in him to twist and catch what he could of the blow on his forearms. It hurt like the dickens, but it would stop him from breaking ribs...or more ribs judging from the white-hot pain that shot through his torso as he moved. Yeah, he'd thought Xehanort had broken bones earlier.

Fortunately, he didn't need a Keyblade to heal himself and that was one of the few things he could do while still in the air.

"Heal!"

The green glow surrounded him and managed to mend his ribs in just enough time to make it so he didn't damage anything worse when he hit the black ground below. He looked up, barely able to roll out of the way of the man shooting down, feet first, to crush Sora's chest. That wouldn't have felt good if it landed.

Sora took several deep breaths and remained in his crouched, defensive position, not wanting to waste any extra energy as his mind tried to analyze the situation. It didn't look good. He didn't have a weapon, and while still able to use his magic, he would have to use it sparingly.

Xehanort laughed as he slowly, arrogantly, turned to face Sora.

"Pathetic. Without your friends and your weapon you will be far too easy to subdue." The guy couldn't help but monologue, and seeing as Sora needed a bit of a break he wasn't about to stop him. In fact, he could probably encourage him.

"What did you mean?" Sora asked.

Xehanort frowned and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"You said that even in my mind I'm not strong enough. What did you mean?"

The grin on the madman's face returned in full force. "Haven't you figured it out yet?"

Then he rushed Sora, who pulled another dodge roll off to the side and then turned to face his attacker, who had adjusted and struck with a heavy force that jarred Sora's body with the blow, even though he once again caught it on his arms.

 _Come on,_ he told himself, _think!_ He re-analyzed the fight and looked for discrepancies. Something about Xehanort had felt...funny when he'd caught Sora's arm. His skin had seemed almost as if made of steel. It reminded him of how strange the ground felt, now that he thought about it. It didn't make sense. The blackness beneath his shoes almost seemed soft, but hard at the same time. Misty but solid. Like it wasn't really there even though he could feel it and stood on it like any normal ground. Was there some connection to that and Xehanort? The darkness perhaps?

He ignored the pain in his arms as he sprung backwards on his hands and fell back into a stance that would help him meet Xehanort's surge forward. He barely kept up with the man, doing his best to move his arms and feet in patterns that would help him as he turned his mind back to their surroundings. It felt similar to the snippets he could remember of diving inside his heart. Maybe that was the connection?

And then he put it together.

"We're in my mind," he whispered.

Xehanort's eyes narrowed and he swung a leg past Sora's guard and into his face. Sora flew away but managed to reach a hand out to the strange ground and turn himself so he could land on his feet and knees. Fat lot of good it did him. He still felt so utterly exhausted and spent. Fortunately, Xehanort didn't attack again.

"Yes," Xehanort acknowledged. "We are. And you have proven that your strength is inferior to mine."

"Why can't I call my Keyblade then?" he asked, part of him stalling but mostly because he really, really wanted to know.

"Because your Keyblade responds to your heart, not your mind."

Sora didn't really see why there should be a difference and suspected Xehanort had done something to put him at this disadvantage. It had worked rather spectacularly too. He had no idea how to work his 'mindscape'. It didn't respond like his heart did. That had always been instinctual.

As if to accentuate the thought, Xehanort managed to call a black Keyblade to him. Sora couldn't help but gape. That was _so_ not fair! And why hadn't he used it before? Probably just so he could prove his little point of "I'm stronger". The jerk.

"As a punishment for your crimes," the white-haired figure said in that haughty voice of his, and Sora couldn't help but feel that was more than a little unfair—he'd only fought for his and his friends' lives. How could that be a crime? "You shall become my new vessel," he continued. He walked forward, striding confidently across the blackness towards the Keyblade Wielder. Sora didn't know what to do. He could feel the fatigue weighing him down and he doubted he'd be able to dodge again. Still, he determined that he wouldn't look away. He _wouldn't._ He'd face what was coming and defy this man (if he could even still be called human) to his very last thought.

The dark Keyblade arced straight for him, and his heart hitched.

Then he saw a flash of color, and heard the sound of metal on metal just as something—no, some _one—_ blocked his view of the madman.

He knew who it was the instant he saw that back too.

"R-Roxas?"

Sora couldn't help but blink in confusion. Why was Roxas here? Sora had always hoped he still existed in some form or another, but he'd never been really successful in contacting his nobody. And besides, wasn't that also a 'heart' thing, not a 'mind' thing? And he had a Keyblade too! How was that possible?

"Here, Sora," a higher-pitched, much softer voice answered him from the side. He looked over and saw a girl coming to kneel beside him. She had short, dark hair that reminded him a bit of how Kairi used to wear hers before they'd left their island the first time. She also wore an organization cloak. He'd seen her before, somewhere, he was sure, but he had no idea who she was.

So, naturally, he asked.

"Who are you?"

She sighed with an expression on her face somewhere between sadly resigned and amused. "That doesn't matter now. We just have to get you out of here."

A loud, mocking laugh from Xehanort drew both Sora and the girl's attention.

"Do you really think a nobody can beat me on his own?" he asked. "Especially when his 'somebody' couldn't?"

Sora was about to speak up and defend his nobody, but yet another new voice stopped him.

"He won't be alone, _Master._ " The boy that stepped from the darkness could have been Roxas' twin, except for the smallest of details. He also spat the word 'master' with such vehemence that Sora couldn't help but worry for the newcomer. That couldn't be healthy.

"Wait, Master?!" both the girl and Roxas asked together, surprised.

Xehanort, looking rather amused at this new turn of events broke away from Roxas, jumped back a safe distance and turned to the newcomer. Then he started to laugh. The Roxas lookalike's expression darkened even further.

And yet, even though everything about him spoke of anger and hatred, Sora didn't really get that feeling from him. It almost seemed as if he were going through the motions. But that made no sense. Why would someone do that?

"So, this is where your heart has been hiding, Ventus," Xehanort said neutrally.

Sora frowned. He knew that name. Wasn't it one of the three kids whose lives had been ruined by Xehanort all those years ago? The one that everyone was looking for? And again with the heart thing and not a mind thing...and he couldn't help but feel _really_ confused right now.

If the boy's expression had been angry before, he looked downright murderous now (although he still didn't _feel_ that way, and how could Sora tell what the boy was feeling anyway?). "I needed to go _somewhere_ after you tore me to shreds."

"And you didn't have the good grace to simply die."

"Look who's talking," Roxas interjected.

Xehanort turned and looked at him with a new, strange expression. They sat like that, in an anticipitory silence, for several seconds, neither side willing to make a move. Then Xehanort spoke.

"Why is it that you look so much like Ventus and not like your Somebody? The likeness is quite remarkable."

Roxas just shrugged, looking for the worlds as if he didn't care about Xehanort's question at all. "Beats me."

"When Sora became a heartless, it didn't affect my heart. It remained with the body and soul that became Roxas and influenced the form he took," Ventus said almost nonchalantly. "At least, that's my theory in any case."

"Come on, Sora," the girl said again, hefting Sora's arm over her shoulder. He could have sworn this place wasn't just in his mind. It _felt_ real. His arm rested against the smooth leather of her coat and her bony shoulder poked into him uncomfortably, not to mention she was shorter than him, making his efforts of moving with her awkward at best. "Let's get you out of here."

That made even less sense than everything else.

"Get me out of where? How do I go out of my mind?"

She blinked at him with those dark blue eyes for a moment before she broke down into snickers, even as she dragged him away from the other three who had all taken battle stances. He thought back on his words and had to laugh along with her. He would have rubbed the back of his head sheepishly if he'd been able to do more than move his feet.

"We're just going to get you to another, more isolated part of your mind," she finally managed to answer.

"Oh. Will it be safe there?" because that sounded _very_ nice right about now. He could rest for a minute and then get back here and help kick the madman out of his head. And if anyone thought he shouldn't come back, well, they had another thing coming. He wouldn't just give his mind or body up without a fight.

"I don't know. We've been trying to get to you ever since we sensed his intrusion. We were only just able to get past the barrier he put up. It cut your mind off from the rest of you."

Which explained why he couldn't reach his heart or his Keyblade. Sora nodded, feeling vindicated.

"There's nowhere you can hide from me forever," Xehanort called triumphantly after them. Sora hated how confident the guy sounded. "And before you go, let me ask you—why can you harbor so many hearts?"

Sora couldn't help it. He paused at the question and looked over his shoulder.

"Don't listen to him, Sora," the girl whispered urgently, but he ignored her for now.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"It is an unusual trait," Xehanort continued, not once lowering his Keyblade or taking his eyes off of Roxas and Ventus. "Not many can, and usually only for close relatives or comrades. So why...?"

His eyes widened and he seemed to realize something. Then he started to laugh. It wasn't the creepy laugh Sora usually heard from him, but a downright entertained guffaw. The strangeness of such a carefree laugh coming from this person, of all people, made it even more menacing somehow.

"Why did I not see this before?" the white-haired man asked himself in between wheezes.

"Sora," the girl urged.

"Just a minute," he said, still frowning at Xehanort.. Before he could say anything else, though the madman continued.

"It explains so much! Why you received the Keyblade when you had not been given the gift. Everyone came up with our own reasons, but we all seemed to overlook the fact that _it shouldn't have happened._ When one becomes a Keybarer, they must materialize their key themselves or inherit that which is specifically _given_ to them. They should not inherit that which is not theirs and I had never heard of a Keyblade doing so until you.

"The princess of heart could take refuge in your heart, even with at least one other heart already residing there. It is, again, another impossibility, and you continue to hold at least two now. You could also release the other captive princesses' hearts. Not something an ordinary human could do."

Sora did _not_ like where this was going. Maybe now was the time to turn and follow the girl again.

"And it explains why Roxas looks so much like Ventus. Roxas is Ventus' nobody, not yours."

"Then why did my heart remain with Roxas when he materialized as a nobody?" the second blond boy cut in angrily.

"Because he couldn't access it at the time. You were so used to relying on Sora's heart to strengthen your own that once it left, it was as if you had no heart which is why Roxas was born.

"I say 'Sora's heart' but in all actuality I believe it is merely the echo of hundreds of thousands of hearts combining to make an approximation. Similar to Kingdom Hearts in that way."

He turned to look back at Sora again. Involuntarily, he took a step back as the white-haired man continued. "It also explains why you cannot be corrupted. We always assumed that you had conquered what little darkness lay inside your heart, but in truth, there is _no_ darkness inside your heart because you don't really have a heart."

"That's not true!" Ventus and Roxas yelled at the same time.

"How could he not have a heart?" Surprisingly enough, that rather sincere question came from the girl. Sora found himself agreeing. There was more than enough evidence pointing in the other direction. Of course he had a heart. Why else would he have a nobody (because he still thought Roxas was his nobody, thank you very much)? How else could he feel and _care_ like he did?

"Because," Xehanort began laughing again, "he isn't a human at all! He _is_ the _X_ -blade!"

Sora's mouth dropped open in shock at the (frankly ridiculous) accusation.

"What?!" the girl and Roxas said at the same time, both looking about as surprised as Sora felt.

"That makes no sense," Ventus said after a moment, his voice calm and assessing. "Just one person cannot forge the _X_ -blade. I'm living proof of that."

The madman was still laughing. "It is a mystery, but it also explains why I failed to construct the _X-_ blade—it had already been forged! It also explains why you, Ventus, a single person, could even make an approximation of the true _X_ -blade and why Vanitas looked so much like Sora. Your heart, broken and fading the first time, found refuge with him, and that gave Vanitas a connection and a form! Am I correct?"

He didn't say it like a question. Sora had no idea if he was right, but Ventus looked unsure and truly worried for the first time. He glanced over at the brunet and then back at Xehanort hesitantly.

"Let's go, Sora!" the girl sounded more urgent than ever, and this time, Sora agreed with her. He turned to hobble away.

Then Xehanort's voice boomed all around them, commanding and powerful. "COME, MY _X_ -BLADE! COME TO ME AS YOU WERE MEANT TO!"

Against his will, something inside Sora responded. He gasped and felt his legs give way beneath him. The force _pulled_ at him, urging and straining and he knew he would have to put all of his mental concentration into fighting it; that if he didn't, everything he'd fought for would be in vain.

He closed his eyes, focusing on remaining where he was. Vaguely he realized he'd accidentally dragged the girl down with him.

"Sora...SORA!" she called frantically, but it sounded far away to him and muffled. He grit his teeth and focused again on holding himself together. Yes, that's what it felt like—like someone was trying to tear a part of him out, or force him to do something he didn't want to do, or both...

"Xion, get over here! We have to stop him!"

He vaguely noticed another Keyblade appearing in her hand as she ran from him to join the other two.

Xehanort's laughter kicked up a notch. "And all of the hearts residing inside of you are Keyblade wielders. Do you still think all of this is a coincidence?"

In all actuality, Sora didn't know what to think.

"But he was born on Destiny Islands," Roxas argued.

Somehow, impossibly, Xehanort's grin became wider. "Tell me, nobody, do you remember your somebody's biological parents? Did you have any? How about you, Sora?"

Of course he did. He'd lived with them since before he'd left the island.

Hadn't he?

He vaguely remembered a brown-haired woman...and his father...who was his father? Had he really been away from the island for _that_ long? Had losing his memories and regaining them had something to do with this? Or...?

A shock of fear ran through him. Was Xehanort right? Was he even human? As if in reaction to his negative thoughts, something inside of him seemed to stutter just a little and a light shot out from his chest, slipping through his fingers. Then, before his eyes, the ethereal form of what looked like two Keyblades merged together began to appear in the air before him.

Desperation rose inside of him. No, no, _no_! He had to stop this from happening! He couldn't let the madman get the _X-_ blade and use it! Use...him?

Sora didn't want to admit it—didn't want to believe it at all—but it seemed right. Somehow, he could sense the truth in Xehanort's words.

Somehow, he was the _X_ -blade.

He gasped again. How would this affect everything? What was he going to tell Riku and Kairi? Did they already know? And just _how_ was this all possible? How could he be a...a _thing_? Not that he hadn't sensed, well, something from his Keyblade every now and then that felt like _more_ somehow. A connection of sorts, but wasn't he supposed to feel that with a Keyblade? Was there something more to it than normal?

Apparently.

He felt like his entire universe had been turned upside down, even more so than when his Island had been swallowed by darkness and Kairi and Riku had vanished. It didn't help his current situation in the slightest.

"It doesn't matter if Sora is the _X-_ blade," a voice that could have been Roxas or Ventus said. "He's still his own person."

"He's definitely more than proved that." Okay, that one had to be Roxas. Sora looked over his shoulder to see the nobody standing defiantly before a decidedly less-happy Xehanort.

"And we will protect him from you!" the girl—Xion apparently—said as she took her own stance.

The madman looked between the three of them, and then over at Sora—who had been bolstered by their sincere words—frown deepening into a scowl.

"As you wish. I shall deliver oblivion to you!" And with that, he attacked.

Before he reached them, though, the three defenders turned around and shot a white light at Sora. The pulling stopped and he knew no more.

xXx

 _Possible future ending. Just thought it would be a fun idea to explore. SoraxKairi_

 _I'd like to thank Kuroi Atropos for helping me out with this! She's amazing, especially because she is not caught up but helped me anyway. Kudos to her! However, I AM looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested!_

 _To be continued..._


	2. Riku, Kairi and Lea

Somehow, Riku knew this wasn't over yet. He didn't know if it had to do with those ties he still had to Xehanort and the darkness, or if it was just his sixth sense telling him that while this 'final battle' hadn't been _easy_ per se, it had still been too easy.

Still, they'd finished the madman off as far as they could tell and so Riku had focused on helping Kairi stumble away from her final fight. They headed towards Sora, who had just returned, and everything looked like it might just fix itself...

And then Sora collapsed. For a second, everything seemed to freeze, and then, almost before his mind could process the thought, Riku was leaping forward. In a flash, he and Kairi had rushed to his side, shouting his name. King Mickey was there as well and even Axel—er, Lea—had stood up and looked over at them worriedly, although he seemed to refuse to leave his other friend's side. Of course, right at that instant, a rather haggard-looking Donald and Goofy rushed onto the scene, joining the worried crowd around Sora.

"Stand back, guys!" Mickey insisted. It always amazed Riku that he had such a high, squeaky voice and yet held a commanding presence that few could deny. Everyone leaned back as he examined Sora.

After a few agonizingly slow moments of nothing, the King took his own step back and studied Sora with a frown. "His heart is still there, but it's as if his mind has been trapped somewhere."

"Where?" Kairi asked, ignoring how her voice cracked in worry. "Can we find it?"

"Oh, it's right here," the King said, looking surprised for a moment. "I just don't know how to reach it. It's trapped inside of him."

Which made very little sense, and apparently Riku wasn't the only one who thought so judging from the looks everyone exchanged.

"It's Xehanort," a new voice said. Everyone turned (most rather defensively) to face the newcomer and Riku blanched. It was Xehanort...but with brown hair. Wait...no, this...this wasn't Xehanort. No, he remembered the guy from their childhood. Actually, it had been him that had given Riku his Keyblade. He was sure of it. He lowered his Keyblade, allowing the guy to approach, and nodded at Kairi to do the same. She didn't look too sure, but she followed his lead.

Mickey's eyes went wide. "Wait, you're Terra!"

The young man smiled down at the little king. "When you defeated Xehanort, it separated his body from his mind and that allowed for my mind to reunite with what was originally mine." With that, he nodded his head respectfully. "Thank you for that, Your Majesty."

The little mouse smiled. "Aw, gosh, it's no problem."

That had to be the closest thing to a lie the King had ever said. Riku rolled his eyes, but he couldn't suppress a smile either.

Then Terra looked sadly down at Sora. "Now he's fighting a similar battle to one I lost. Xehanort's spirit is looking for a new host."

"You make him sound like some kind of parasite," Lea commented loudly from where he stood, still keeping vigil over Isa's prone form off to the side.

Terra's expression darkened. "As far as I'm concerned, he is."

"So," Kairi cut in, hands gripping her Keyblade tightly, "what do we do then?"

No one, it seemed, had an answer. Everyone just stood around, worriedly glancing at each other or at Sora.

"Come on," Riku heard himself say, "we can't just sit around and do nothing! There has to be—"

He cut off when a ball of white suddenly shot out of Sora. It grew and engulfed all of them, but not before Riku saw... _something_ fly off and disappear.

xXx

When awareness returned to Sora, he could only try to huddle away from all of the voices that suddenly bombarded him. He couldn't make many of them out, but it didn't matter because none of them were actually speaking _to_ him, and he didn't need to hear their words to understand them. He heard them nonetheless; all of them Keyblade wielders, and all of them desperate to find the light.

What scared him the most, though, was that he _knew_ them somehow—all of them. Knew of the Keyblade Master who had gone searching for the light because she desperately did not want to lose any more friends like she had lost her family, or like the boy who barely made it to manhood before he was struck down by a friend he'd sworn he could trust, or the old man who watched as the peaceful world he'd grown up in was torn apart by a war he could do nothing about...

Sora knew all of their stories and all of their heartache and all of their sadness...but he knew of their joy and their peace and their love too. And it was too much.

It was so hard to focus on anything and his mind felt like it would explode.

If he'd had teeth, though, he would have grit them. He wasn't about to give up now, and so he forced himself to _focus._ He pushed through the clutter and did his best to tune them out. Right about then, he realized that he knew some of them better than the others; seven to be exact (and an eighth that felt dark and so distant, but still different). They still lived, whereas the other voices just felt like echoes—recorded and unchangeable. So he reached out in desperation and clung to those seven presences like they were anchors. He centered his thoughts on those and those alone and it worked, driving the other voices away so they became a dull hum in the background. He would have sighed in relief if he'd had the physical capability of doing so.

Then he realized that someone—one of the seven—was calling to him...

xXx

Riku didn't know how long they stayed in the light right then. It could have been months or years. It could have been seconds or days. He felt as if _some_ time had passed, but he couldn't for the life of him remember how much. It was...disorienting.

When the light faded again, Riku peeked through his eyelids and then opened them wide in shock. He recognized his island—Destiny Island. This wasn't the remains of the ruined place he'd just left, but the Island that would always hold a place in his heart, peaceful and beautiful and whole _._

Which meant this had to be a memory or inside his own mind somehow.

"No, actually, this is in your heart," a voice behind him said. He whirled around and couldn't help but smile in relief when he saw Sora lazing about on the palm tree that grew sideways, looking like he had no other care in the world. No, no that wasn't true. Something about the barely perceptible rigidity in his body made him look more _relieved_ than relaxed. That wasn't like Sora...

"So what, you can hear my thoughts now?" Riku asked wryly, raising one of his eyebrows. He'd be wary, figuring Sora would talk to him about whatever was bothering him when he was ready.

Sora sat up and looked at him in a strange way. "No, but I can sense something. Through your Keyblade, I think. Yeah, that would make sense." With that, he laid back on the tree, gaze returning to the blue, almost cloudless sky.

"This feels nice. I can't hear the others in here."

Riku frowned. "What do you mean?"

Sora didn't answer for several seconds. That, more than anything, worried Riku. Sora had always been so vocal.

When he did speak again, his voice seemed soft and pained and not like Sora at all. "Hey, Riku...what would you say if I told you I wasn't who you thought I was?"

It was the way that Sora said it more than the words themselves that got to Riku and made him clench his hands tightly. This was not something positive if Sora's actions were anything to go by. He figured he should play it of as lightly as he could.

"Depends on what you mean by that."

Again it took a very long time for Sora to say anything. Riku almost thought he wouldn't at this point (another worrying point, the brat was giving him nothing but those lately). Then he heard Sora's whisper.

"I'm the _X-_ blade, Riku. I—I don't know how or why...not yet."

Well, that was most definitely _not_ something Riku had expected. His mind reeled and he took a step back, just to make himself steadier. "What?"

Sora almost didn't seem to hear him. "The memories are there and they want to come back...they _will_ come back. No...I...they're starting to already, I think. I..." He paused again, this time his eyes didn't focus on anything as his contemplation and focus turned inward. "The _X_ -blade is an echo of every Keyblade that has ever existed. That's what I am. That's what I've always been, I suppose."

He looked up at his best friend, eyes clearing. Then, he sighed and lay back again, hands under his head.

Riku frowned. "But, how does that make any sense?"

Sora shrugged. "I dunno."

The ' _not yet_ ' echoed silently at the back of the sentence, but it was still such a _Sora_ thing to say that Riku couldn't help but snicker as relief flooded him.

"Nope," he finally said. Sora, surprised, looked over at him again. "I told you once that you're still all you. I don't care if you're the reincarnation of some ancient weapon or just the bratty kid that wouldn't ever stop following me around like a lost puppy."

"Hey!" Sora protested, but Riku continued.

"That hasn't changed. You're still all you."

Sora paused and studied Riku with an unreadable expression before he looked down, a sad smile on his face.

"Not for long if Xehanort gets a hold of me. With what I'm starting to remember...Riku, this could be very bad...like universe ending bad."

"What?" Riku's own smile vanished and there were so many things to address, but he focused on the one that impacted him the most. "But we beat him!" Gah! Sometimes he _really_ hated being right.

Sora shook his head. "He's fighting Roxas,Ventus and Xion inside my mind right now. They banished my heart so he couldn't get hold of me." He looked up at Riku, eyes pleading. "If he does...I don't want to be used for evil things, Riku. I...I don't know if I can ever go back to my mind and body."

For several seconds, Riku remained rooted to the sand and rock below him, heart thumping as he realized the implications. That would mean Sora would never go home with them, never truly be on their island again with him and Kairi. Never to watch the sunset over the waves or to spar on the beach or to play tag in the tree house or to race. Never there to watch his back anymore, never there to tease or encourage or come and haul Riku's butt out of the darkness when he needed it...

"We'll beat him," the older teen said suddenly, voice hard and determined. Because he couldn't imagine an island without his two best friends there with him. "We'll find a way. You and me and Kairi."

Sora sat up again, looking so grateful and hopeful that Riku couldn't help but smile too.

"Yeah. If you say it, then we'll find a way," the brunet said, and for the first time, he sounded like he meant it too.

Before either one of them could say anything else, though, Riku's Keyblade appeared in the air before him. He leaned back, surprised, because he certainly hadn't called it out. Then a light appeared right above Sora's chest and shot towards Riku, stopping only as it hit the Keyblade. The two boys stared, dumbfounded, as a light slowly encompassed the blade and then the glow expanded.

When it faded again, Riku found himself standing on the beach as it had been after Xehanort had gotten to it—the beach that had been ruined by the intensive fighting. He glanced down and saw a sort of shield encompassing Sora's body. It didn't look like a peaceful shield either as bouts of energy sprung from it randomly, although Sora's body showed no actual expression, simply looking (dare he think it?) dead.

He glanced around worriedly, but before he could say anything to anyone else, he heard an echo in his mind that sounded an awful lot like Sora.

" _We'll find a way_." Riku closed his eyes for a second and swallowed. Then he nodded and glanced down at the Keyblade in his hand. His eyes flew open wide because instead of the blade he'd been using, it looked like his old Way to the Dawn Keyblade, except that it was made of pure light.

xXx

Kairi threw her arm up and looked away from the blinding light suddenly coming off of Sora, but it didn't do much good. When she opened her eyes, she wanted to blink away the spots she knew would be there...but weren't. She frowned and glanced around to make sure her eyes were functioning normally, and then gasped. She was sitting on the beach in front of the secret place and the tree house—where Sora loved to take naps, she recalled nostalgically. Truthfully, it was a wonder he hadn't gotten sun burned half the time.

What surprised her most, though, was that this was real, and unscathed and...and _theirs._ The island from her memories. The one that she would always remember and cherish.

Of course, that was when she heard a soft snore behind her and whirled around to see the boy in question snoozing lazily. She sighed in fond exasperation, got up and walked over to his prone figure. For a moment, she just studied him. He looked like the same old Sora, no scars or marks or bruises from their battle. This must be a memory, she concluded, and so she bent down to poke him in the side. She couldn't help but laugh as he quite literally _squeaked_ and sat up.

"Give me a break, Kairi."

She hid her laugh behind her hand and managed to get it under control. "Just as lazy as ever," she said.

He rolled his eyes and flopped back in the sand, stretching lazily. She resisted the urge to poke him again. He could get cranky sometimes if she pushed too much.

Then she looked back out at the sea, peaceful as it moved steadily forward and backwards on the beach. As normal as this felt, she didn't recall this recently, and judging from their clothes. So...not a memory then? But then what was it?

"Sora, where are we?" she asked softly.

He didn't answer for a minute, but when he did, his voice was equally as soft. "In your heart."

Oh. Okay, she could accept that, except... "How do you know that?" she asked, brow furrowing slightly.

"I just...do."

She wasn't impressed. "How do you just know?"

Again, he hesitated before he answered. "I think I know this because of what I am."

She turned to look at him again, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I just found out about it—just started to remember, really. I'm...um, the _X_ -blade that Xehanort wants to recreate." Kairi just stared at him for several seconds, only able to blink.

"What?" she finally managed to ask.

"The _X_ -blade. It's...I'm made up of every heart that has ever wielded a Keyblade. It's who I am now...and who I've always been really. Now I have to stay away from Xehanort. He's trying to take over my body to use as a vessel and he wants to use me—my heart—to gain the power he needs to rule the worlds or something." With that, he looked down at the sand away from Kairi, seemingly ashamed.

It wasn't exactly the easiest thing for Kairi to wrap her head around. How often did one find out that their best friend (the person they loved) was a legendary weapon with a personality and sentience all his own? It boggled the mind. And that didn't even begin to touch on the fact that the megalomaniac they thought they'd beaten was somehow still around. However, seeing that look on his face broke through the haze of unreadable emotion and she knew she had to do something.

"Well that's good," she said finally.

Confused, he looked back up at her again, and this time it was his turn to do nothing but blink at her.

"If you're who you've always been, then you haven't changed. I never wanted you to. I love you just the way you are, Sora."

And the confusion melted to incredulity, and then his cheeks went bright red. He looked _so_ adorable when he blushed.

"L-love me?"

She giggled and crawled over to his side, sitting and resting her head on his shoulder. "Yes, silly. I don't care who you are or who you've been or what you're made up of. You are and always will be my Sora, and I love you. And if Xehanort wants you, he'll have to go through me first."

He looked hesitantly at her, seeming almost hopeful but cautiously so. "So...you still need me?"

She whacked him across the back of the head. "Of course I do! That's why I wanted to protect you too. We'll rebuild our Island, you, me, and Riku and everyone else. We'll beat Xehanort. You'll see."

"Thank you, Kairi," he said, relaxing for the first time since she'd woken him here. She opened her mouth to say 'you're welcome', but before she could say anything, her Keyblade appeared in the air before her. She stared at it in surprise before she realized that a string of light was connecting it to Sora. Then, slowly, it faded into light and she had to look away again.

When she opened her eyes again, she was standing next to Riku, looking battered and torn, but her Keyblade had become one of pure light, just as Riku's had.

" _Together_ ," she heard Sora whisper in her mind.

"Together," she repeated.

xXx

Lea couldn't help but be protective of Isa. Not being so in the first place had been what had torn them apart to begin with. So, when the light came out of Sora and engulfed everything, he'd taken a defensive stance in front of his friend and called his Keyblade out. He'd still had to look away and close his eyes, though.

When he'd been able to open the again, he saw, to his great surprise, Radiant Garden. He couldn't help jump back in shock and then whirl around to see where the illusion ended. Because it had to be an illusion. This Radient Garden didn't exist anymore. This wasn't the world that had been torn apart by heartless and nobodies, but the thriving community he'd grown up in. Letting his Keyblade arm drop to his side (but not allowing it to disappear, he wasn't that stupid), he circled around again, more slowly this time as he tried to see through whatever this was.

Nothing he saw made sense. He could hear the birds chirping, and children laughing and playing in the distance and his shoes on the cobbled stone below him and he could feel the wind and the sun and—

"Don't worry," a new voice interrupted his scrutiny and he whipped around a third time to point his Keyblade at whoever had managed to sneak up on him. Then he blinked when he saw himself looking at Sora. Instantly he deflated.

"Hey, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that, ya know?" He hoped he sounded much cooler and calmer than he felt.

Sora just cocked his head at him, amused, before turning to study the world around them. "So, this is Radiant Garden before Maleficent took over."

Lea felt himself slump ever so slightly. "Before Ansem the Wise disappeared."

Sora nodded. "I can see why this is what you would want in your heart."

"Wait, what?" Lea asked.

Sora grinned over at him. "We're in your heart."

Lea frowned and studied the brown-haired boy. "Then how can you be here? Why are you here?" Not that he didn't like Sora or anything, but he wasn't Roxas (not really) and Sora wasn't Isa or Lea's family or any one of a dozen other people who meant more to him at the moment.

If Sora could guess his thought process, he didn't look upset in the slightest. "Through your Keyblade, I think."

"Could you start making sense?" the red-head asked, raising a hand to rub at his forehead. With everything that had happened...just, no.

A moment of uncertainty crossed the younger boy's face before he swallowed. "Well, basically, I'm the _X_ -blade, which is kind of like the heart of all Keyblades, and Xehanort wants to use the power of all of those hearts and take over the universe...or something like that."

Lea just stared at the other young man, unsure of what to say. Then, after a moment, he shook his head. Focus on the most important stuff.

"So you're saying he's still here (of course he would still be here), that you're somehow the key to his rule (no pun intended) and we have to do something to stop him." Because he just didn't get the rest of it. This was why he always did the legwork. Isa was the brains. Now Lea wasn't stupid, per se, but he just couldn't seem to grasp the little but crucial details right away. It just took him a bit longer. That was all.

"Yeah, basically," Sora said with a satisfied nod.

Lea thought about that for a few minutes before he also nodded. "Alright, so how do we do it?"

Sora cocked his head to the side and blinked. "We?"

Lea frowned. "Well, yeah. Obviously you're not here to play. If you need help, all you gotta do is ask. That's what friends are for. I don't care whether you're some sort of ancient weapon or not. Got it memorized?" With that he slung an arm around Sora's shoulders.

The brown-haired boy shook his head as a grin split his face.

"Then what I need you to do, I guess, is trust yourself and in the other Keyblade wielders." Then Sora's grin turned impish. "Got it memorized?"

Lea just shook his head. "Don't ever say that again. It's mine, got it memorized?"

Sora just grinned up at Lea, who jumped back when a light formed above his chest and Lea's Keyblade appeared floating in front of them. Lea blinked and looked down at his empty hand. Well, that was unexpected. A stream of light connected the Keyblade to Sora and it began to grow, enveloping everything. Just as Lea looked away, he heard Sora say:

"Roxas says 'hi'."

Then he was standing on the torn beach, watching over his friend's prone form. A few feet away, he saw a similar light die down. The first people he noticed were Riku and Kairi...and what the blazes happened to their Keyblades?

And then he looked down at his own, seeing that the exact same thing had happened to his. He smiled sadly as he studied his new Keyblade.

"Hi," he whispered back.

xXx

AN: Heh, heh, heh... *tries not to look sheepish* Put up the non beta'd version. My bad. Thanks again to Lexik


	3. Mickey, Donald and Goofy

Mickey immediately knew when Sora started glowing (shining, really) that this was going to be another one of those instances no one could predict. So when the light faded and he found himself in the Disney Castle Gardens, he really couldn't say he was surprised.

Well, okay, maybe a little. At least this didn't seem like an unpleasant surprise.

Still, the sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky and a slight breeze blowing through the courtyard made a pleasant scene all the more welcoming. Now if only Minnie were here, it would be perfect.

"You know, I always liked it here," a familiar voice spoke.

"Sora?" Mickey said with a grin as he turned around. The boy in question was lounging on the grass in front of the entrance to the Gummy Ship dock. The boy met Mickey's gaze and smiled.

"Your Majesty."

"Aw, Sora," the little mouse said as he walked up to the other. "I'd think you'd know me well enough by now to call me 'Mickey'."

Somehow, his expression brightened. "Thanks, Mickey."

"So," the king said as he sat down on the grass, "somehow I suspect Xehanort is behind this."

The smile on Sora's face disappeared all too fast. "Yeah."

"Well, aren't you going to tell me what's going on?"

It took the boy a minute to answer but he did. "I'm the _X_ -blade."

Mickey could only stare in shock. "Wait...you're the...but...how is that possible?! And why?"

A vague expression crossed Sora's face and his eyes seemed to lose focus. When he spoke, it sounded strange, like several people talking at once. " **I could tell...I could feel the** _ **wrongness.**_ **If I didn't do something...too many lights were lost the first time. I couldn't let that happen again.** "

"Couldn't let what happen?" Mickey asked warily, not sure he wanted to know.

When Sora turned his head to look at him again, Mickey's took a step back warily. The boy's eyes hadn't physically changed, and yet somehow there was a depth and knowledge and agelessness to them that had not been there before. It was...startling to say the least.

" **The war.** "

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Sora blinked and he was back. He seemed just as surprised as Mickey felt. He also looked so heartbroken for a moment that it startled the king even more. What was he remembering? Specific battles? People and worlds at war and hurting? If what Sora said was true, then Mickey couldn't even begin to guess.

The expression disappeared so quickly, though, that he was sure Sora couldn't be doing anything else but masking it.

"Huh," the brunet said, his voice slightly hoarse and shaky, "I didn't even remember that until now." He choked, but otherwise his voice had returned to normal.

The king felt his heart go out to the kid. If he were suddenly getting memories of wars...this really wasn't good. But then again, if anyone could weather it, Sora could. Still, Mickey decided to say something. It practically went against his nature not to.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, betting that Sora would understand his offer. He did. The heartbroken look came back along with those too-old eyes, but it still sounded like Sora when he spoke.

"N-not yet. I—I don't' think I can right now. Besides...," he took a deep breath, "we need to focus on Xehanort, right?"

The mouse king nodded sympathetically. "Right, but just remember that my door's always open if you need it."

Sora's smile wasn't bright or blatant, but it looked like the most sincere smile Mickey had ever seen on him—which, really, said quite a bit.

"Thank you. I may take you up on that." He nodded gratefully once and then laid back on the grass, hands under his head.

Mickey brought a hand to his chin, stroking it thoughtfully. "I wonder if Master Yen Sid knew about you."

Sora snorted, seemingly back to normal, although Mickey knew better. "Probably."

Mickey wanted to snort himself. That was so like Yen Sid. How would he know? Was there something basic in Sora that someone with experience could just pick out? And just how was all this possible? How could the _X-_ blade even exist like this?

Well, he wouldn't get any answers by just staying quiet. "So how were you...uh...?" he didn't know how to say what he wanted to ask without making Sora sound like some sort of object.

"Here? Alive? In this form? Forged?" Sora asked, smile ever so slightly wry. "Or re-forged, I guess."

Mickey rubbed the back of he Head. "Uh, yeah."

Sora shrugged and looked back up at the blue sky overhead. "It's all still really fuzzy...I'm getting all these memories at once and it's kind of hard to put them all in order, but I think I made a choice of my own to take on this form when Ventus died."

That had Mickey's head snapping back so fast it almost gave him whiplash.

"Well, when he almost died," Sora corrected. He looked like he was having a difficult time putting his thought into words and had that troubled look on his face that usually had Donald berating him for worrying. "In a way, Xehanort was right. When I felt the energy that was Ventus separate into two entities, I knew someone wanted me and Kingdom Hearts. I came into existence when his heart needed somewhere to go." Then his voice started to take on that strange, other-worldly tone again. " **He needed me, and in a way, he prevented Xehanort from ever truly gaining hold on me simply by seeking refuge and not giving up."**

The mouse king looked down sadly. "Will he be alright?"

Sora sighed, hints of the creepy multiple voice gone yet again, thankfully—although Mickey was sure he hadn't heard the last of it. "Even with all these memories coming to me I don't know. What Xehanort did to him...it was wrong. So wrong that I don't know if anyone can fix it."

Mickey sighed. Poor Ven.

"Well," he said after a few moments of silence, "we'll just have to find a way." He always had been an optimist.

Sora glanced over at him and smiled that cheesy grin that only he could somehow pull off. "Yeah."

Again, Mickey wasn't sure how to say the thought that came to his head then. Still, he felt he had to. "And...what about you?"

The boy didn't answer for what felt like an eternity, but Mickey didn't rush him. This was something he felt Sora needed to figure out on his own.

Finally, the brunet spoke, placing a hand over his chest and clenching the fabric there. "I don't know. Keyblades represent a person's heart. Like it or not, Xehanort has a Keyblade so I'm a part of him too. He knows how to call the _X_ -blade to him, somehow, probably using that link. I can't fight it very well. I don't even know how to begin to. I get the feeling that usually I'm trying so hard to reach out to people that the idea of cutting myself off from him without physically taking away his keyblade feels... _wrong_. And I don't remember enough right now to even start to fight it."

"Then don't," Mickey said as nonchalantly as he could. Sora looked over at him, confused. The mouse king just grinned. "Let us fight him for you. You don't have to carry everything on your own. That's what friends are for."

Sora just blinked at him for a few moments before his face broke out into a relieved grin. "Yeah."

And then Mickey's Keyblade appeared and was tied to a light coming from Sora and he had to look away from the brightness.

"Thanks, Your Majesty. Your people are lucky to have you as a king, and your friends are lucky to have you as a friend, Mickey." Sora said before the brightness overtook everything.

Then he'd returned to reality, and his Keyblade shone.

xXx

Confusion didn't really begin to describe Donald's state of mind when he opened his eyes. They'd fought so hard and endured and won...and then something had happened to Sora (again! The idiot!) and a bright light and...he found himself in a house he hadn't seen for decades.

A house that didn't technically exist anymore.

For a moment he just stood there, looking around in awe and confusion.

"Alright, I give," a voice to the side caused him to jump...in a manly way, because that wasn't a scream and he was _not_ freaking out!

"Don't _do_ that!" he yelled angrily at Sora who had squatted down and was examining something on the dresser in front of them, next to the decades-old radio.

Sora, of course, just shot him a cheesy grin that had Donald grumbling under his breath, muttering how he didn't need enemies if he had friends like this. He didn't mean a word of it, and he knew Sora would get that. Thankfully. It had taken them a while to get to where they understood each other so well.

"What's so important about this place?" the boy asked.

Donald blinked. What? And then he looked around again, his features softening despite himself. Then he folded his arms and twisted his head away from his friend.

"None of your business."

When Sora didn't answer, he peeked out of the corner of his eye. Then he noticed the picture Sora had been looking at and rushed forward to grab it. It was a picture of him and Daisy and the triplets. He didn't even remember taking it or setting it there and he didn't like other people—even his best friends—looking at his stuff without permission.

"Oh! This is where you met Daisy, isn't it!" the brown-haired boy exclaimed just as Donald snateched the frame from the wooden surface it had been resting on.

Donald frowned, glanced down at the picture and then put his hands on his hips. "Yeah, so what of it?"

"I think it's great!"

If the duck had been expecting anything, it wasn't that...although, in hindsight, it really didn't surprise him that much. Donald didn't really do mushy stuff, and tended to avoid it when he could, however possible. Sometime he forgot that other people—especially Sora and Goofy—weren't like that.

"You do?"

Sora put his hands behind his head, looking for all the world like he didn't have a care. Like they hadn't just been fighting for their lives and the light of every world and...

"Where are we?" he finally asked. Because none of this made any sense.

"Your heart. Where else?"

Oh. Well, that did make some sense, Donald supposed. Because they really this shouldn't be possible...and yet it was all exactly as he remembered. How many times could he remember feeling the rough, old flooring on the bottom of his feet, and the worn carpet that he and the boys had fought over, and the static of the old-fashioned radio? But that still didn't mean the house existed. He'd watched it get torn down; him and Daisy both had.

"Why are you here?" He finally asked, because he'd never met Sora in this place and somehow he knew this wasn't just a memory of the brunet. This was the real Sora. So he shouldn't be here either. Just one impossibility after another.

The boy in question glanced up and to the side as he thought about that, folding his arms and tapping one finger against his skin absently. "You know, I'm not sure. You don't have a Keyblade, so I can't explain it. Ask the King when you get back, K?"

Donald narrowed his eyes. "Fat lot of help you are."

Sora immediately balled his fists and leaned forward. "Say that again!"

The duck couldn't help but snicker. Really, the boy was too easy sometimes.

But, like all good things, the joke had to come to an end. Donald hadn't forgotten where they'd just been or what had happened up until now and the memory of that quickly sobered him. Somehow he knew this was just a temporary thing, and so despite everything going through his head, he decided to ask one last question. "Why are we here?"

Sora's smile faded as well, signaling that he knew what Donald meant. Good. Explaining it would just make things more awkward than they already were.

"Turns out I'm actually an ancient weapon that could give Xehanort the power to rule the world." Sora managed to say with a forced a smile. "Who'da thunk, huh?"

The duck just stared at him for a few seconds before folding his arms again. "What have you been eating? Don't eat it again."

"I mean it!"

Donald folded his arms and frowned as he scrutinized the boy in front of him. Then he circled Sora, still studying him intently.

"You don't _look_ any different."

Sora rolled his eyes. "I've _always_ been the _X_ -blade. Why would I look any different now? Besides, this is how your heart sees me."

And that last bit didn't really sound like Sora at all. Not the whole talking about hearts and the strength of hearts or the powers of hearts because that was all Sora, but his friend had said it like some sort of after-thought, like some throw-away piece of information that anyone should know when really it wasn't something either one of them should be sure of.

Then Sora moved one hand up to rest against his chin. It was his 'deep thinking' pose, and part of Donald wanted to quip about it, but most of him wanted answers, so he stayed quiet.

"Maybe that's why I'm here. You may not have a connection to a Keyblade, but you do have a connection to me. Your heart and mine and Goofy's..."

This was really starting to freak Donald out. This was deep stuff that he didn't really understand and it was stuff Sora _shouldn't_ understand any better then him. He hated being freaked out, so he covered his anxiety in the usual manner. "Now you're really not making any sense. Are you sure you didn't just hit your head?"

"Donald!" Sora said, fists balling again and eyebrows furrowed.

The duck couldn't help but grin at the reaction, even if it was a little mean.

Sora shook his head and stood straight again. Then his expression became serious. "Look, I don't know what's going to happen next, so I think...I guess I came to say goodbye."

"What?!" Donald asked, the sudden proclamation surprising him and making him more than a little angry. Sora opened his mouth but the duck cut him off. "Oh, no you don't! You are not leaving us again!"

Sora just stared at him for several seconds, which only unnerved Donald even more. "I don't know if I have much of a choice. I'm...it's different now. Knowing what I am...it changes everything."

"So what?!" Donald growled, sounding more like a dog than a bird. "It's not like you've forgotten anything. You're still Sora too, right?"

For several seconds, the brown-haired teen blinked, dumbfounded. Then he broke out into the biggest smile Donald had ever seen (which, really, was saying something).

"Yeah, I guess I am."

Donald squinted. Was it him, or had the house around them gotten brighter?

"Looks like it's time to go. Oh, and Donald...thanks. I'm glad I met you." All Donald could make out after that was Sora's trademark grin before everything faded.

Then he was back on the beach they'd just spent the last several hours defending and everyone seemed to be looking around in confusion and their Keyblades all glowed, but Donald only had eyes for the barrier that had appeared around his friend. He didn't want to think that Sora had been right, that this was goodbye or that something would happen, and so he wouldn't. They needed Sora—all of them. He'd become such a huge part of their lives, and so he would do whatever he could to make sure Sora came back to them.

For everyone's sakes.

xXx

Goofy had never claimed to be the brightest candle on the cake. That was fine with him. He had other strengths. For instance, he could make people laugh, and he liked to play mediator most of the time. He took pride in the fact that tended to roll with the punches pretty well. Usually. That didn't stop him from staring, dumbfounded, up at the house in front of him. The one he'd sold long ago. The one that sat next to Pete's old house.

The one he would always remember.

"Huh. So what's so important about this house?"

Goofy blinked, shook his head, looked to the side and smiled calmly at Sora. "This is where I raised my son."

"What?!" Sora asked, jumping as if he'd been physically shocked. He liked to do that. Goofy found it fun to get a reaction like that out of him. He giggled his signature laugh for a moment. "But, I didn't know you had a son!"

He couldn't help it if his smile dimmed slightly. "Max and I...don't always get along. He never knew his mother and having me for a dad can be a bit...difficult at times."

Sora seemed troubled by that statement. "But, I think you'd make a great father," he said, blue eyes sincere.

The smile came back. "Thanks."

The teen's next question seemed cautious and hesitant. "Why don't you ever talk about him?"

Goofy paused for a moment. "He...thought I shouldn't go with Donald to find you. He thought I was needed there. We argued...and we only just started patching things up. It hurt...to talk about."

"I'm sorry," Sora muttered.

Goofy shifted, his feet shuffling through the freshly-cut lawn, but shrugged. "It's not your fault. Shucks, I don't think it's anyone's fault. Sometimes things like that just happen." Thankfully it didn't take brains to figure that one out.

"Yeah," Sora agreed, probably not knowing what else to say. That was fine with Goofy. Just him being here already meant a lot, even if he wasn't completely sure where 'here' was.

They turned and looked back up at the house and stood there for what felt like several minutes.

"So, that's it?" Sora finally asked. "You're not going to ask where we are or why we're here or anything like that?"

Goofy shrugged again. "Does it matter?" Because he doubted Sora would keep something truly important from him.

Sora contemplated that for a moment. "Huh. I guess not."

Goofy just smiled at him and then turned to go into the house. He walked up the old steps that always seemed to need attention. Huh, funny, he could feel the old metal through the gloves on his hands—such a familiar feeling. He twisted the knob, more than aware of Sora coming to stand behind him on the starirs, and then held his breath as the green-pained slab of wood swung away from him. To his surprise, the door opened onto the cabin of the first gummy ship they'd ever piloted.

"This shouldn't be here," he commented as he stepped inside, followed by Sora.

"But you wanted it to be," the boy remarked.

Goofy thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I kinda did," he acquiesced. Somehow he knew this was where all of his most precious memories were stored and that those memories made up their surroundings. So really, he shouldn't be surprised. He took a fond look around the cockpit. "This is where we started our journey together, after all." With that, he turned around and smiled at his friend. Sora returned the smile.

"I guess I should tell you that I'm the _X_ -blade Xehanort has been trying to find, huh."

Goofy blinked at the non-sequitur. "Huh? Y' mean, you're what he's been after the whole time?"

"Yup," Sora said with a firm nod. "We just figured it out. He didn't even suspect when he tried to trap me in my dreams."

The taller of the two suddenly started laughing again. "A-hyuck. You sure had him fooled."

Sora's smile faded. "Yeah, and everyone else too. Even me."

Goofy wanted to frown at that, but settled for scrutinizing his friend. "Ya know, I'm not all that surprised. I always knew there was somethin' special about you. Donald and I were sure lucky to meet you."

"Even though I dragged you through just about every world in existence looking for something that was under our noses the whole time?"

"Naw," Goofy said dismissively and went to sit down in his usual seat on the ship, the one to the right of Sora's claimed chair. "Wouldn't have missed it for anythin'. You are one of my best buds after all."

Sora's smile somehow seemed more genuine. "Thanks, Goofy."

"No problem."

The world around them suddenly didn't seem so clear anymore, and it was getting hard to look at. He didn't know where the white had come from, but it grew.

"Tell everyone I'll miss them, will you?"

Goofy's eyes widened and he turned to look for Sora to ask him what that meant but all he saw was a destroyed beach that had once been his friend's home. Everyone else looked confused and worried, but all Goofy could seem to conjure was sadness...and he hated not knowing why.

xXx

AN: It just felt wrong to not include Donald and Goofy. *shrug*

FYI-The two chapters I posted before weren't the ones that had been through every beta reader. I've since posted the revamped versions. There isn't a whole lot different, but you may want to go back and reread them.

Thanks to Lexik again!


	4. Terra, Aqua and Ven

Terra didn't quite know what to make of the entire situation. Truthfully, he was just happy to have his body back and be completely in charge of it. Why he'd ended up on the beach that looked like a typhoon had hit it he could only guess at. He suspected it was because that that was where Xehanort had fallen.

He didn't really know anyone there personally, but he did remember snippets from Xehanort about the little mouse-king and even some of the current Keyblade wielders. The white-haired boy was the one he'd met once and had given his own power to. The girl was his friend, and the kid on the ground completed their trio.

He could sense Xehanort in the prone kid, and he could practically feel the battle taking place there. The moment he figured that out, he knew he would do anything to help the kid because no one should be put through that. No one should have to lose their bodies and become nothing more than a slave inside their own minds (or outside of it as the case may be).

And then light had exploded from the kid's chest and Terra's senses felt overwhelmed. He couldn't see, couldn't seem to hear (or everything, including the ocean, had gone deathly silent) and suddenly felt far too much. Xehanort was still there, but someone else—no, several someones—were there too and something was floating away but Terra felt a connection there too and...just _what_ was going on?

It took him what felt like several hours to calm down, but was in reality probably not more than a few seconds or minutes. He doubted anyone else had reacted like that, but then they didn't have connections to Xehanort like he did—they weren't tainted.

"Hey, you shouldn't think that," a voice admonished from behind.

Terra spun around towards the presence. It felt familiar somehow.

He blinked in surprise when he saw the boy from the beach—the brown-haired one. He opened his mouth to say something and noticed his surroundings. His jaw closed with a clop, and then almost immediately fell back open in shock.

The last time he'd seen this world, it had been in shambles because Master Eraqus... And yet, here it was, whole and light and lovely. He was home, and it was a home that shouldn't still exist—that hadn't for over a decade. They stood in the training grounds he'd spent hours upon hours practicing, and off in the distance he could see the peak of the castle he'd grown up in.

"This is nice. I can see why you like it," the boy he'd almost forgotten about spoke again and Terra looked back at him incredulously.

"How is this possible?"

The boy smiled a cheesy, cheek-splitting grin and said, "This is what your heart remembers. So in a way, it will never be gone until you drive it from your heart yourself."

Terra tried to wrap his mind around that. "So...we're inside my heart?"

The boy's grin grew (impossibly) wider. "You seem pretty smart."

"Just educated and jaded," Terra corrected with a sad smile. The experience he'd gotten had come at such a high price—his friends, his freedom, his master and the worlds at large.

"You know," the boy broke through his thoughts, "you brood worse than Riku." And his smile had turned mischievous, almost challenging.

Terra wasn't really in the mood, so he frowned and crossed his arms. "Who are you?"

The boy seemed to blink in surprise, as if he'd just remembered something and then he reached a hand up to rub at the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh, right. Sorry. I'm Sora."

The moment he said his name, flashes of memories that didn't really belong to him came back—of fighting the same boy, albeit much younger, in the realm of darkness; of a castle of bright white and the boy, his white-haired friend and the girl were there, as well as the little king and his two subjects; of a vast expanse of nothing and just the two boys there now; of a white room filled with enormous chairs of varying height; and finally, a flash of the boy racing towards him, Keyblade held high, a ruined beach behind him.

This was the boy who had defeated Xehanort.

This was the boy who had given him everything.

"Sora," he said after a moment, not liking how broken his voice sounded. Then, he managed to gather himself and reached out to shake the other's hand. "I'm Terra, and I think I owe you some thanks."

Sora's sunny smile had returned. "Don't mention it."

The taller boy shook his head incredulously. "He more or less makes it possible for me to become whole again and he says it's no big deal. Have you met a guy named Ventus? Are you related to him by any chance?" Because Ven would totally play down something like that. He liked to actually accomplish things more than get recognition for his successes.

The brown haired kid looked up in surprise. "Yeah. He...well, I've been kind of harboring his heart for the last few years."

Terra blinked and his smile vanished. "Wait, what?!"

Sora suddenly looked sad. "When he fought Vanitas, his heart had only just begun to sustain itself after being torn in two. He more or less had to destroy half of it a second time and that shredded what was left all over again. His heart had bonded with mine before, that time because of desperation and proximity. He would have died—ceased to exist even—otherwise. When that almost happened again, he came back and has been with me ever since."

The older wielder could only stare at the younger boy. That...convoluted didn't _begin_ to cover it. He knew Ven had had a problem with his heart, but this? Torn to shreds? Ceased to exist? He'd be lying if he said it didn't scare the light out of him.

But Sora was just standing there, looking so accepting and innocent and...

Terra took a deep breath and tried to focus. He had so many questions...so he focused on one.

"Why you?"

Sora grinned again. "Good question."

Terra couldn't help but grunt in annoyance. "You don't know?"

"Oh, no I do," Sora assured him. Terra wanted to roll his eyes. All he needed was another sassy kid in his life. "I just wanted to say that you chose a good question. The reason why is because I'm the _X_ -blade."

Wait...

"WHAT?!"

Because the implications... How could the ultimate weapon they'd been searching for be a boy? A _human_ boy.

"Yeah, kind of surprised me too."

This was getting a little too overwhelming. Terra tried to sort it out and didn't succeed that well. Probably just him not used to having an actual mind again. Yeah. He'd chalk it up to that for now.

"So you're the _X_ -blade, even though you're a kid, and the ultimate weapon that Xehanort," he practically spat the name, "has been looking for to destroy the universe and you saved Ven from obliteration."

Sora seemed to think about that for a minute. "Yeah. That sound about right."

The taller boy couldn't help but be surprised that he'd managed to grasp the important points. It really left only one question for Terra to ask.

"Why?"

This time, Sora frowned. "Why did I save Ven? Why wouldn't I? He's a Keyblade wielder, and a good one at that."

"No. Why are you the _X_ -blade. Or how, I guess. I mean you're...um..."

Sora raised an eyebrow, his expression somehow looking both dry and amused. "A human?"

Terra nodded in relief, glad he understood. "Yeah."

"I...could go into the details if you want, but the short version is I knew that if I didn't hide myself that there would be another war."

It was Terra's turn to dryly comment, "There's still a war."

The look Sora gave him didn't fit on his young face. It looked old and tired and so, so sad. It almost broke Terra's heart (again) just to see it.

"Not like last time. If Xehanort manages to get a hold of me..."

And right then, Terra was sure he didn't want to know...and really, that scared him more than it probably should.

So he focused on something else. "Right. If you're here, where's Ven?"

Sora closed his eyes and turned his head away in shame. "Fighting Xehanort."

"WHAT?!"

The shorter boy raised an eyebrow again, folding his arms. "You like saying that, don't you."

Terra brushed the comment aside. "If Ven's fighting him I have to help! He can't take him on his own!"

"He's not alone."

Terra blinked. "Who's with him?"

"His nobody, Roxas, and a girl named Xion."

Which made about as much sense as the rest of this conversation, which is to say almost none. "How can someone fight along side their nobody?"

"It's a mindscape. My mindscape, actually." And he really didn't look happy about that.

"So how do I help?" Terra asked, fists clenching in determination.

Sora regarded him for a few moments before smiling sadly. "You believe in him. And in me, I guess."

Part of Terra wanted to demand why he should trust someone he just met, even if he was an ancient weapon, but then he remembered the look on his face when talking about Ven and his protests died on his tongue. Sora cared. The X-blade cared about them. Maybe Terra couldn't understand the hows or whys but he could see truth when it stared him in the face.

"Is that all I can do?" he asked, his voice quiet.

"For now, yes. He's stronger than you think."

The older boy (was he really older? He didn't know anymore) stared the other down for several seconds as if judging his words. Then he nodded. "Then I'll do it."

A light shot out of his chest and his Keyblade— _his_ Keyblade, not Xehanort's—appeared before him. A narrow stream of light connected it to a light above Sora's chest.

"Thank you," was all the other boy said before a white light engulfed everything around them.

When Terra's eyes opened again, he was standing on the typhoon-beach. In his hand, his 'Ends of the Earth' Keyblade looked as if it had been made of glass and filled with a mist of white that glowed just about every color possible as it moved.

He stared at it for a minute before his hand tightened around the hilt (it felt just as solid as it ever had) and he strode forward, towards Sora. "Sora, Ven, I believe in you." Despite how cheesy it sounded, he put his whole soul into the words, and then sat down. He put his Keyblade across his knees and mentally prepared himself for whatever was to come.

xXx

She was so tired of the darkness. It permeated everything, the strange structures around her, the very atmosphere she breathed...even her thoughts. It seemed to be all she remembered anymore. She'd even begun to wonder if her vague memories of the light were real or some imagined fantasy. Still, she fought to hold onto them—fought the shadows that attacked her because if she let the thoughts of light go, she would have given up, and she didn't want to know what would happen then.

The shadows sensed her tiredness somehow. She knew they did because they'd redoubled their efforts lately. They locked her into a never ending battle that chipped a little bit of her off with each strike. It was getting so hard to just _move_ sometimes, but the memories of her best friends—her brothers—were the only memories that hadn't faded and it kept her going.

She didn't know how long she'd been down here. It felt like centuries, and yet she couldn't find a way out. It had been _so_ long and she really was _so_ tired...

She'd just defeated a group of shadows for what seemed like the millionth time when the Keyblade in her hand glowed and she felt a tug. At first she'd been afraid something had finally managed to get to her, but then she'd had to shield her eyes from the brightness that grew. It had hurt, and she'd cried out in pain because she hadn't actually had to deal with such things as her eyes adjusting to the light in who knew how long.

When she opened her eyes, she couldn't help but gasp. Not only had the pain vanished, but she was home in the Land of Departure before Master Eraqus' fall had practically ripped it apart. It...couldn't be...could it? It was too good to be true...right? Tears came to her eyes as she surveyed the training area where she'd spent so many hours.

Now if only...

"You won't find them here," a voice behind her caused her to jump and she whirled around to see a boy inspecting some of the training equipment. At first, Aqua thought it was Ven. Then she realized that it couldn't be—his hair was too dark—but he did look familiar.

After a moment, it came to her and her eyes flew wide. "Vanitas!" she accused, calling her Keyblade to hand. It flashed into place and she gripped the handle, focusing on her stance and the figure in front of her.

The boy blinked at her for a few seconds, taken aback at her hostility. Then he raised a hand to the back of his head slowly and rubbed it. "I guess he really did look like me then."

Aqua frowned. So this boy was claiming that he wasn't Vanitas?

"If you're not him, then who are you?" she asked after a second. He didn't _feel_ menacing, but she'd been fooled before. She kept her guard up but decided to at least humor him for a moment. Maybe he'd reveal something?

"I'm Sora," he said with a grin that would never have worked on the face she remembered Vanitas having. It, more than anything, convinced her that he wasn't lying.

Then she remembered her recent conversation with the man on the dark beach.

"Sora?" she asked, trying again to not let her heart believe it. This really was too good to be true and it would hurt too much if she indulged her wishes only to have it ripped away from her a second time.

"Yeah. And you're Aqua, right?"

Aqua blinked. Yes, she was Aqua. Somehow, she'd almost forgotten her name!

"Y-yes," she said as she put a hand on her chest, liking how right that sounded and felt and—

"What means the most to you?"

The question caught her off guard and it was her turn to stare at the strange boy.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Instead of being annoyed, like Ven would have been, he just shook his head in amusement. It reminded her more of Terra, actually.

"I just asked what means the most to you."'

Well that was a no-brainer. "Terra and Ven."

Sora nodded as if he'd expected that. "And what would you do to help them?"

This was starting to annoy her, but she answered anyway. "Anything."

He paused and somehow his whole countenance changed. When he spoke again, his voice had changed as well, sounding more like a thousand people speaking at once. And his eyes...what had happened to his eyes?

"Even continue to fight?"

She took a step back, hesitant for just a moment. All she really wanted to do right now was lay down and sleep for a decade—rest and forget all of this had ever happened. But, she could never leave Ven and Terra to their fates. They would fight to find her just as hard, she knew.

So, even though her stomach felt like it would drop through her chest and into her legs, and even though the very idea had her wanting to just roll over and try to shut everything out, she looked straight ahead with her chin held high.

"Yes."

The boy smiled. "Good."

A light formed above his heart, suddenly. Aqua stared at it for several seconds, unsure of what to make of it. Then it shot towards her. Instinctively, she threw her Keyblade in front of her. The beam of light hit it and everything faded to white.

When she opened her eyes, she actually had to close them again. It was still bright and the light still hurt...more than before, actually.

"Ow, ow, ow," she muttered, sinking onto the ground below her. Wait, was that sand?

"Aqua?" a hesitant baritone spoke up. Aqua's head shot up, not caring how much her eyes hurt at the moment. She whirled around and found the person she'd honestly thought she would never see again standing there, whole. He had brown hair and blue eyes and sat on the beach in a meditative position. He also looked like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Terra?" she asked, not quite sure she should believe he was there.

"Aqua!" he gasped as he stood and rushed over to her, enfolding her in a hug that felt both familiar and not. "You're safe."

"You're...back?" she replied, still trying to wrap her head around that fact.

He stepped back and smiled that soft, warm smile that was so Terra. "Yeah." Then he looked to the side and Aqua saw several people watching them. They all had Keyblades that glowed. No, glow was too calm a word for it. Shone. They shone, even in the bright sunlight streaming down on them.

Then she noticed her own. It matched theirs.

"What—?" she started, but Terra cut her off, obviously noticing her confusion.

"We're back thanks to them. Especially him," he said as he nodded down at the boy laying prone under a shield of some sort. Then his expression hardened. "Now it's time to get Ven."

This time Aqua's heart leaped in her chest. This was real. The nightmare and darkness was over—finally! She closed her eyes for a moment, savoring this feeling. It felt _so_ good after being alone and in the dark for so long.

Then she opened her eyes, smiling through the tears as her fist tightened around her Keyblade. "Yeah. Let's get Ven."

xXx

The nice thing about a mindscape were the sheer possibilities it presented. A generous mind could conceive just about anything, and thus no boundary really existed. That power was, however, extremely limited when working in someone else's mindscape, especially when confronting a madman who seemed to have far more power than he should.

Still, Ventus, Roxas and Xion continued to battle Xehanort without either side really gaining any ground. Actually, Ven was convinced that neither side _could_ gain any ground because all of them had more or less conjured nigh impenetrable armor. Ven found the whole situation utterly frustrating, and he wasn't the only one. The problem was, neither side was willing to back down or compromise. If Xehanort had Sora's power and body...well, they could kiss the worlds (and the light) goodbye. However, the madman had come in sight of his goal and he wasn't about to back down now.

They didn't know for how long they'd been fighting, but every now and then they'd take breaks to step back and regroup. During the third such break, Roxas, Ven and Xion were conversing quietly, each keeping tabs on Xehanort who seemed to be contemplating them a fair distance away.

"We have to take him by surprise," Roxas insisted, and frankly Ven agreed.

"How?" Xion asked. "He knows all of us are here and he'd notice if any of us disappeared to try and sneak up on him. Do any of us have the power to create images or body doubles?" Ven and Roxas shook their heads.

"Larxene could," Roxas muttered, "and I can use speed to leave an after image, but he wouldn't fall for that."

"No, he woul—" Ven started to agree but then something _pulled_ at him. He frowned and tried to identify the feeling.

"Ven?" Xion asked worriedly, eyes searching Xehanort's figure angrily, as if he were the source of Ven's sudden discomfort. No, not discomfort, but still...

"Someone's calling me," he muttered.

"Who?" Roxas asked.

Ven scratched his chin. "I think you know who." Because he didn't want to say his name aloud with Xehanort nearby. He studied the other man who returned his gaze steadily.

"Can you two handle him without me?" he asked, trying not to move his lips.

Roxas and Xion blinked and exchanged glances. "Yeah, I think so. Don't know for how long though."

"Right," Ven acknowledged. "Then you might want to distract him."

The other blond grinned and Xion looked highly amused. "You got it," they said simultaneously and stood to rush the parasite.

Deciding not to waste a second, Ven closed his eyes and followed the tugging.

The next thing he knew, he stood on Destiny Island (or what was left of it) facing Sora's prone form. Well, 'stood' implied that he had a body, which he most certainly didn't. At this point, he would probably just appear as nothing more than a ghost.

He frowned and studied the body for a moment before turning around.

And his eyes almost popped out of his head.

Two figures in very similar positions as he (and with very similar expressions on their faces) both stood with their mouths dropped open.

"A-aqua?" Ven heard himself say breathlessly (which really, made absolutely no sense at all whatsoever when he didn't have lungs). "T-t-terra?"

"Ven," they both muttered at the same time.

"Hey, Aqua," a new, familiar voice said and Sora appeared right next to him, also as transparent as a ghost. "Why don't you go get Ven's body while I have a talk with him?"

If anything the older two Keyblade wielders seemed even more incredulous. "Huh?" The others scattered around the little clearing all cried out in various forms of surprise.

Instead of saying anything, Sora just winked and grabbed a hold of Ven's arm. Apparently apparitions didn't have any problems interacting.

The next thing Ven knew, he'd appeared in the middle of a desert and realized exactly where Sora had brought him.

"The Keyblade Graveyard," he murmured to himself and looked around. For miles, Keyblades upon Keyblades stretched into the distance. "I always hated this place."

"Really?" Sora's voice inquired from behind him. Ven spun around, scowl set firmly on his face.

"What was that all about?" he asked, waving his hands in a wide gesture.

Sora just shrugged. "I figured it would be easier to have a reunion if you had a body. I also needed to get you away from Xehanort, and I couldn't exactly come back in there myself...not yet in any case."

Ven just sighed in frustration. "Yeah, about that. I have to get back. We're not making any progress against Xehanort and I—"

" **You can't.** " The voice wasn't loud, but it seemed to echo all around him...seemed to come from the Keyblades around him. He jumped and whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Huh?" he asked.

" **You will never make progress against him inside that mind because he has already begun to integrate himself into it. He holds more power there than you do and thus you cannot win.** "

He'd stopped spinning and searching for the voice and looked back at Sora. For the first time he took notice of what the other boy was doing. He floated a few inches off of the ground and remained in his transparent, spectral form (no surprise without his body), and yet, his hand rested on the Keyblade in front of him, thumb rubbing back and forth along the edge of a the dirty, silver key.

He also noted the look of utter sadness on Sora's face.

"Sora?" he asked, more than a little put off by the strangeness of the situation and how different the boy he'd watched for so long was acting. Sora looked over at Ven and smiled. Ven gasped, because that smile did not match the tears running down the other boy's cheeks.

" **They call to me,** " he said as he stood and gestured around them. " **They still have power left, but not enough. Even with all of them...** " he faded off and glanced around them, almost as if he'd forgotten Ven was there. It startled Ven that the voice seemed to originate from Sora. It didn't sound like him at all.

" **All because I let my guard down and allowed him inside my mind. I could have beaten him otherwise. If only I'd known...** "

And suddenly the whole situation and the weight of it all seemed to hit Ven.

"You really are the _X-_ blade," he said. He hadn't wanted to believe it before, even with Sora reacting to Xehanort the way he did. But now...now he couldn't. He could even hear and feel how his own blade seemed connected to the boy in front of him. Why hadn't they noticed it before?

" **Yes.** "

Ven tried to wrap his head around that. He really did. His hands somehow moved to his hair as if to cradle the thoughts racing through his mind, but it didn't help the circular process his train of thought seemed so determined to make.

"Why?" he finally managed to ask.

Sora's smile somehow (impossibly) became even sadder. " **Because of you.** "

At that, Ven blinked. "Huh?"

This time the expression on Sora's face resembled a grandfather smiling tolerantly down at a young child. It didn't fit on his face.

" **You agreed to your master's wishes to undergo the training without really understanding what it entailed. Your heart was torn in half—light and darkness. Both halves struggled to remain in the world, but were slipping away. However, you had already gained your Keyblade and I felt the rending. I could sense Xehanort's intentions though his own Keyblade and I knew the time had come to hide myself.** "

"Hide yourself?"

Sora nodded calmly. " **Yes.** "

"As a human?"

" **Yes. I had to hide my mind and my powers even from myself. I'm afraid I did my job a little too well. Even after subconsciously calling Riku's Keyblade to me I acted more like a Keyblade wielder than a Keyblade myself.** " And with that, he put a hand up to rub the back of his head in a very Sora-like expression of embarrassment. It didn't fit with the words. Too many things about this didn't fit and Ven was doing all he could to keep up with the developments.

Then his expression turned serious. " **Xehanort has found me, now. He has begun to access my power by integrating with the body I myself took as a vessel. If I do not stop him, it will only be a matter of time before he succeeds.** "

Ven thought about that, about how no one would be safe and about how whoever got in Xehanort's way would be crushed (or worse). If Xehanort had his way, everyone would be under his influence and no one would have freedom...

And that was no way to live.

So he clenched his spectral fists. "Then how do we win?"

Sora got a far-away look in his eye that made him look centuries older than his body and form suggested.

" **You. It all comes down to you.** "

Ven's fist relaxed in his surprise and confusion. "Huh? But just barely we couldn't even make a dent on him! My heart isn't even whole! You said so yourself. So..."

He faded off as Sora held out his hands, fingers open and palms down. He'd closed his eyes and took a stance similar to when he opened or closed a keyhole. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Ven jumped as he felt something thrum through the ground around them.

No, not the ground, the Keyblades, he realized.

A wave of energy suddenly shot out from Sora. In moments it had passed further than Ven could see. As it touched each Keyblade, they lit up for a moment. Ven watched in astonishment, wondering what in the universe was going on, and then he turned back to Sora. He'd changed stances. Now he stood with his feet together and one hand behind his back. The other, he held out in front of him, and his blue eyes fixed on the empty space above his palm.

Ven opened his mouth to demand an explanation, but then he felt the _thrum_ again and the energy wave came rushing back, closing in on Sora. Ven leaped forward to try and get the other boy out of harm's way, but he knew he'd be too late. It proved to be rather pointless anyway as the energy seemed to condense in on itself in the area Sora's gaze had focused on and a little ball of light appeared there. After a few seconds, the light faded, leaving a strangely luminescent ball of...something that shimmered like old oil glinting in the sun.

"What's that?" he asked warily, unable to take his eyes off of the sphere.

Sora looked up at him sadly. **"Vanitas."**

Ven's eyes widened in shock and he actually took a step back.

" **Or, what's left of him,** " Sora added as if in afterthought.

The blond felt his brow furrow. Vanitas was a part of him, the part he'd defeated and destroyed so long ago. He couldn't help but be drawn to his other half, and yet, part of him liked the idea of being a creature of pure light. And he had so much baggage when it came to his other half.

" **No matter how you feel about him, he is still a part of you,** " Sora reminded him. Ven cringed, even as the brown-haired boy continued. " **He can heal you.** "

"But," Ven started unsurely, "do I have to take him back?"

Sora withdrew his hand, now looking rather surprised himself. " **You...don't want to heal?** "

The Keyblade wielder shook his head. "No, it's not that, it's just..."

He faded off and Sora's expression softened. " **Bringing him back into your heart will give you temptation and anger and darkness, yes, but overcoming that is how you will become strong enough to exist on your own again. Unless you always want to remain harbored in my heart...** "

Ven cringed. "Not really. I mean, you took me in and because of that I know true peace and sanctuary (I can't thank you enough), but I do want to be able to live on my own again. It's just, I...guess I wasn't really expecting this. I mean, I thought he was gone for good and that I'd never have to even see him again—good or bad. How could you just collect him like that?"

Sora glanced at the graveyard around them. " **The Keyblades respond to me. I am of them and they are of me, just as yours is. When you defeated Vanitas, his half of your heart was shattered and left here. Fortunately, no heart can truly vanish with time—not even half of one. It can only move. Sometimes it will grow, other times it will shrink or shrivel and become more and more difficult to collect, but it will never completely vanish, even if one does not know how to retrieve it.** "

He glanced at Ven with a hesitant expression. **"It is yours if you wish. I know this is not a decision to take lightly, and it will not be easy for you, but..."** He let the possibilities hang in the air as Vanitas stared at the little sphere.

"What will happen to him if I don't?"

Sora looked away. **"He will slowly fade into the Keyblades here again and eventually become so scattered that even I will not be able to bring him back. Bring** _ **you**_ **back."**

"But if I take him back, I won't be a being a light anymore," Ventus muttered.

The other boy smiled softly. **"You were never meant to be. You were always meant to be human, with the choice of light or dark. Some people choose the darkness, but while I hate that, it is a choice I would not take from them even if I could."**

"Why?" Ven asked heatedly, hands slicing in harsh gestures as he spoke. "Without the darkness Xehanort wouldn't have hurt us or anyone else! He wouldn't have killed or torn people's hearts out of their bodies and Terra and Aqua..."

" **Wouldn't have ever met you. They may never have even existed. Without darkness, there would be no need for light. Human kind always grows the most while struggling. I can hope for the light, help the light fight, pray and work for peace...but to take away someone's _choice_...well, that's what Xehanort wants. He wants to control everything. Is that right?"**

Ven frowned. "Well, no, but someone besides Xehanort—"

" **Would eventually become corrupted. That kind of power and control...humans were never meant to bare such a burden. Would you place such a heavy responsibility on someone? On Terra or Aqua? Even on Master Erqaus?"**

Ven closed his mouth because neither Terra or Aqua would do well with _that_ much responsibility, and really, his own master had broken his trust at the end. He'd had problems and was just as human as Terra and Aqua. Ven certainly knew he'd never want that kind of duty himself. And really, he wouldn't choose to give it to anyone who would want it. Controlling other people's thoughts and actions...as nice as the result sounded, it also seemed _wrong_. He wouldn't want anyone else controlling his actions.

Was that what it boiled down to? Freedom or peace? Couldn't they have both?

" **It is possible,"** Sora cut in, apparently having somehow read his thoughts. Ven glanced up at him again, trying to ignore the creepiness of someone being able to read him like that because, well, it was Sora...mostly. **"But only if people keep working towards it. There will be wars and points of disagreement. There will be wrong decisions and people who purposefully choose badly—who are even predisposed to do so. But that possibility of having both freedom and peace...isn't that what we're fighting for?"**

Ventus thought about that for a moment. Then he looked dryly at his counterpart. "Fighting for Peace?"

Sora rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. **"There are different ways of fighting. Going against the wrongs of a society and even just speaking up, can be a way of fighting. Not giving into hate can be a way of fighting. Not allowing the fear of the unknown—of people who are different than you—to rule your actions can be a way of fighting. Sometimes fighting is the most loving and peaceful thing anyone can ever do."**

"Sometimes it's what Xehanort does," Ven pointed out grudgingly.

Sora nodded. **"And sometimes it's what Xehanort does. Sometimes it causes more pain than you can imagine and hurts more people in more ways than anyone thought possible. People who initiate such fighting either don't understand the reaches of their actions, don't feel they have another choice, or have chosen to live as an evil person who merely wants to see others suffer."**

"But that's what we struggle against," Ven finished, noting Sora's beaming smile out of the top of his eye. His head hadn't turned from the sphere in Sora's hand. "The darkness and other's suffering."

" **Darkness isn't necessarily evil. It shouldn't be unquestioningly embraced either. It just is. What we do with it is what will shape the world."**

Ven closed his eyes with a sigh and finally fixed his eyes on the other boy. "You know, you don't sound like Sora at all."

The Keyblade personified shrugged. **"I am Sora and I am not. I am all Keyblades and I am none. It is...difficult to explain."**

"But he's still in there, somewhere," Ven concluded.

'Sora' nodded.

The blond looked away for a moment, studying the dirt on the ground beside him and how it moved with the small breeze that wound through the graveyard.

"Nothing's ever going to be the same again, is it. Not for anyone."

The brunet cocked his head to the side in contemplation. **"No. And while that's sad, it can also be a good thing if you let it be."**

Ven blinked and glanced back up at the boy who had saved his life—his very existence. The boy who had done so much all for he glanced at the sphere of not-light and his face hardened. Determined, he reached forward and grabbed it.

"Then I guess it's time to heal."

With that he shoved the sphere into his chest, willing himself to be open and to receive it.

Then he knew nothing but pain.

xXx

Thanks again to Lexik!


	5. Ven and Vanitas

Somehow it didn't surprise Ven that when he became aware of his surroundings, he was laying on a stained glass window depicting him. It had a soft, green color to it and he could see Aqua, Terra, Sora and even Roxas up in the corner. Huh, it had changed from last time.

He felt more than heard or saw something come whistling towards his head and instinct kicked in, causing him to dodge roll out of the way. He managed to turn around mid roll and came to his feet facing his enemy as his Keyblade appeared in his hand. The blond wasn't sure what to feel when he saw Vanitas, but it wasn't happiness. It wasn't surprise either, but more of a disgust maybe?

He didn't know, and he didn't really have time to think about it as Vanitas attacked again and he found himself on the defensive. Something was off about the other boy though. The Vanitas Ven remembered had been power personified, and his skill had proven masterful even. This Vanitas swung his Keyblade wildly, sloppily. Ven frowned. Was this what Sora meant when he said they would never be the same again? Never be whole? The person before him looked something more like a crazed animal than he did another side of his sentience. The change was...jarring.

At first Ven fought him off, considering it to be moderately difficult fight, if only because of the other's speed (the one aspect of Vanitas' fighting that didn't decrease). After a while, though, he started to realize the parallels between this and his last fight with the entity. They were tiring, and Ven's skill would help him win in the end, but then they'd be right back at square one. This couldn't end like that, with him destroying and scattering his other half's heart on the planes of the graveyard.

"Vanitas!" he called out as the boy came in for another attack. He still had Sora's face and seeing that expression on it wasn't pleasant. He focused on it anyway. "We need to stop this!"

"Why?!" the other snarled. "Why should I acknowledge your weakness?!"

At that Ven frowned and managed a mighty push back. "If I'm so weak, then why did I beat you last time?"

Vanitas growled. "Lucky shot." But his eyes didn't spark with recognition and his brow had furrowed in confusion. Ven's frowned deepened.

"You don't remember, do you?"

The other practically snarled. "I don't need to! All I know is that I need to destroy you!"

To say Ven was puzzled would be a rather large understatement. Just what was going on? Nothing made any sense at all, whatsoever.

"Wait," he called as he tried to wrap his head around that. Vanitas, of course didn't wait. Instead he attacked again. Ven tried to think around that anyway. "Why are you trying to kill me then?"

"Because I hate you!"

The blond shook his head. "Why?"

"I don't know! I just do!"

But that made no sense. Why would his other half hate him for no reason? Unless it was some sort of basal instinct? But Ven didn't get those kinds of instinct. Was that because he was a being of light...or was it something else. Ven often felt guilty, but it rarely went beyond that. Was Vanitas feeling, somehow...more?

"I defeated you," he commented as he swiped his own Keyblade, dodged and then parried again. "I proved I'm stronger...so why? We need to merge together to heal! That's the only way we can live on our own again."

"I don't need you!"

"Yes you do!"

Vanitas' mouth set in a disgusted grimace. "Your weakness almost got us killed!"

"And yours didn't?" he shot back, realizing and not caring how his own attacks had started to become more aggressive.

"I tried to save us!"

Ventus paused for just a moment, still managing to duck the next swing, but it was a near thing. "I thought you didn't remember."

"It's coming back," the other boy smirked. "If I would have succeeded, we would have been whole and you would have remained in our body. You wanted me gone! Even the thought of me disgusts you now!"

Ven flipped back and away, landing on his feet and holding the Keyblade in front of him, still in its reverse grip as he scrutinized his other self.

"You wanted the _X_ -blade! You would have destroyed Aqua and Terra over it!"

"But not us."

"You tried to destroy me!" Ventus protested, although it sounded weaker than he'd realized. "Here in the Keyblade Graveyard even!" Well, the badlands outside of the graveyard, but still. Mickey had had to come and save him.

"Did I? Or was I just pushing you to become stronger?!"

The words took him back. Wasn't that what Sora had said? That overcoming the evil inside made someone stronger? Vanitas was his evil, wasn't he? For several seconds they just stared at each other, blinking, while they both thought about the implications of that.

"Why did you want me to get stronger?" Then he answered his own question. "So we could fight and you could get the _X_ -blade!" This was really starting to frustrate Ventus. Was Sora even right? Had this really been the correct choice? They didn't seem to be getting anywhere. "Why did you even want it?"

"Because then no one could challenge us!" Vanitas screamed as he came charging again. "We would be safe from the pain the Master put us through!"

And suddenly, it all clicked in Ventus' mind.

He blocked Vanitas' Keyblade again but his heart wasn't really in it. "You never had any intention of giving it to him."

Vanitas grit his teeth and pushed Ven forward before taking another swing and retreating again. "Of course not! He destroyed us! Tore us apart! Caused us untold pain!"

"Why did you team up with him then?" Ventus asked, genuinely curious.

"Because he was stronger at the time. He was the smart choice."

Ventus' eyes widened. "Until you got what you wanted."

"And then you had to go and throw it all away!" Vanitas yelled again, coming in for yet another attack. This time, though, Ventus could see past the front. Every negative emotion—every dark thing about him as a whole human had been personified in Vanitas. That included anger and hate and rage, true, but it also included fear and insecurity and a myriad of other things that really Ven could only vaguely remember feeling. Yes he felt pain, but it had been mostly physical for a long time. Oh, he could still feel emotionally (like when he thought of Aqua and Terra and Master Eraqus and how many people could possibly get hurt because of him) but somehow, he knew that it was nothing compared to what the being before him felt.

For the first time, he really understood what Sora meant when he said he wasn't whole. And so he didn't raise his Keyblade as the other boy swung down.

Vanitas' yellow eyes rose in shock and Ventus found it funny that he didn't feel any pain at all as the blade slashed right through him, stopping about half way. The hilt stood out from his chest, blade buried firmly in it, and Vent realized for the first time that it was his own, old _Wayward Wind_. He didn't know who was more surprised by his actions at this point, himself or Vanitas—him or his other self.

And he really needed to say that aloud.

Reaching up, he put his hands on Vanitas' shoulders. "I am you and you are me," he said slowly. "I'm not perfect. I never claimed I was. But, together, we can get better. I despise darkness about as much as you despise the light," and that drew a snort from his black-haired counterpart, but he continued on. "But there has to be a balance, or neither one of us will ever be as strong as we need to be to keep living."

Vanitas didn't look too happy at that. "I don't need you. I can become strong without you."

That was a lie and they both knew it.

Ventus managed a smile—a real one even—and he leaned forward, ignoring the handle of the blade still inside him. Strangely enough, it didn't hurt.

"Please, come home."

Yellow eyes met blue and searched them for several seconds before he slumped down.

"You'd better not make me regret this," he said as he vanished into a haze of color. The resulting mist (or whatever it was supposed to be, aura maybe?) dissipated and streamed towards Ventus, who accepted it with all his being.

The pain returned not a moment later, and the next thing he knew he was waking up in the Keyblade Graveyard with Sora peering down at him worriedly. Instantly, Ven's hand went to his chest, rubbing at the echo of the pain that still lingered there. Then he noticed how his heart felt...different. Bigger somehow. Darker, most definitely, but better too. There was a lot of emotional pain, the likes of which he hadn't felt (had only felt) for decades. That wasn't a pleasant feeling, but there was also a stability there that hadn't been apart of him for almost twenty years.

"This...is going to take some getting used to," he muttered as he continued to rub at his chest. Then he glanced up at Sora. "There are a lot of issues I'm going to have to find a way to work through, aren't there." Betrayal by any figure in authority (Eraqus and Xehanort), his being manipulated and mutilated by someone he thought he could trust, watching his friends spiral down to their own personal prisons, seeing so many other people hurt because of him and the Unversed...

" **Yes,"** Sora said, that strange thrumming from the Keyblades around them still accompanying him. **"It won't be simple and it won't be easy, but now you have a chance if you decide to take it."**

Ventus nodded. "Thanks, Sora."

The other boy grinned. **"Don't mention it."**

That reminded him of Sora and he couldn't help but relax a little at that. For a few moments he studied the boy in front of him. He didn't look any different, but there was still something about him that seemed to give off power and light. Really, he shouldn't be surprised. Such was always easy to see in Sora, even if it seemed more focused and intense now.

After a few minutes of silence while Ventus acclimatized himself to being more whole, he finally decided to ask the question rushing through his mind.

"Alright, so what do we do now? And what about Roxas and Xion?"

Sora cocked his head to the side in thought. **"Roxas will return to you when this is over. Xion may as well. Neither one of them have the ability at the moment to construct a body. It is not just something anyone can do. I myself took the form of a child who would have otherwise died—who had died."**

Roxas gulped uneasily. "You mean, the real Sora...died?"

The _X_ -blade looked down sadly. **"Yes."**

"Wait, does that mean Xehanort was wrong? You do have parents here? At least of your physical body."

Sora nodded. **"Yes. In a sense, because they raised me, and my spirit resides in a body created from their own, they are indeed my parents. I had difficulty remembering them because of who I am...of what I am. I inherently remember those I've formed connections with through their hearts more easily, so that's what stayed with me."**

Ven frowned. "You haven't made connections with them through your heart?"

" **Not like I did with Riku and Kairi—Kairi who is a Princess of Heart and Riku who inherited the power of the Keyblade."**

"Oh," Ven replied. Then he thought about it for a minute. Sora let him, thankfully, not interrupting. "So they don't know...about you, I mean?"

Sora shook his head sadly. **"No. I doubt they would even understand. Besides, I don't see them...often."**

That still didn't seem quite...right to Ven for some reason. He didn't remember his parents, but if Aqua or Terra was hiding something like that from him... "You should still try and explain it to them."

It was Sora's turn to frown. **"That...would hurt them, and I would like to avoid that, even if I got the original Sora's blessing to take this form before he moved on."**

"Wait, you stole the original Sora's body? And he agreed to it?" Ven asked, surprised—and a little disgusted.

The _X-_ blade looked offended. **"I just said I stole nothing. Sora gave me permission. I would not have taken this form otherwise."**

Ven supposed he could see that, even if it still made him uneasy. "Oh. You can touch souls like that?"

At that Sora nodded. **"Special ones. Should his spirit ever return to this realm, then the body I have taken care of will be returned to him. Until such a time, I use it to try and save the worlds."**

The blond tried to wrap his head around that and ended up shuddering. "I still think that's creepy."

" **I had no other choice."**

"There's always a choice."

The brunet raised one eyebrow dryly. **"You're right, I could have let the worlds fall to darkness and become even more fractured than they already are due to the war Xehanort will create if he ever uses me and the power I represent."**

Well, when he put it like that... Still didn't mean Ventus had to like it.

He decided to change the subject. "So what do we do about Xehanort then?"

Sora stayed silent for a moment and Ven shifted awkwardly. Then the _X-_ blade seemed to come to a decision as he approached Ven and put a hand on his shoulder. **"First, we return to Destiny Islands."**

And that quickly, they reappeared in the midst of a rather large meeting between, well, everyone.

"Sora!" Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy shouted.

At the same time, Terra, Aqua and Mickey yelled, "Ven!" Everyone dived forward...which ended in a rather awkward tangle of limbs and aching heads because neither Sora nor Ven were corporeal at the moment.

"Hey, guys!" Sora said brightly as he leaned down over them. Secretly, Ven couldn't help but feel glad the other boy didn't talk in that strange voice anymore. Then Sora looked at Aqua. "Did you get Ven's body?"

"Yes," Aqua replied, allowing Riku to give her a hand back up to her feet and brushing herself off. Then she pointed off to the side where Ven's form lay against the tree. "Will he be alright?"

" _He_ is right here, Aqua," Ven spoke up before anyone else could, rather annoyed. Really, she should be able to see him. She looked a little sheepish though, so he brushed it off and turned to Sora.

"Is there anything special I need to do?"

"Just come with me," Sora said floating over to Ven's body. Ven didn't know whether he was floating or walking like normal, and he didn't look down to find out. He'd had enough strange experiences thank you very much. Besides, he really didn't want to go all mystical and float too if he could help it.

"Alright," Ven said as he walked to stand next to the personification of the _X_ -blade. "Now what?"

"Close your eyes," Sora said softly. "Feel for that connection you have with yourself. Once you find it—"

A bright flash had everyone looking away and then back. When they did, only the transparent Sora remained in front of Ven's body, looking down at the sleeping figure with a satisfied smirk. For several seconds no one moved as they all waited with baited breath, and for several seconds Ventus didn't move.

And then, finally, mercifully, a finger twitched. Then his arm rose and rubbed at his face.

"Muh...where am I?" he asked groggily.

"Ven!" Aqua almost squealed as she shot forward and wrapped her arms around her brother figure. Terra was right on her heels and enfolded them both in his large embrace.

"Terra? Aqua?" Ven asked in confusion. "Where...where are...? Wait...the island! Sora! The _X_ -blade! Xehanort! Roxas! Xion! We have to help them!"

The blue-haired girl could only chuckle.

"Typical Ven," Terra murmured, a large smile on his own face. "You haven't changed a bit."

At that, Ven pulled away and looked them both squarely in the eyes, expression sombre. "Yes, I have. I'm not going to be the boy you remember. You have to know that."

The two older wielders exchanged glances. "Ven, what do you mean?" Aqua asked slowly, worriedly.

Ven glanced up at Sora. "With his help, I found what was left of Vanitas and I...merged with him."

Aqua gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "Ven, why would you do that?" Terra's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement, but he didn't say anything so Ven answered Aqua.

"Vanitas came from me originally—was a part of me, whether I liked it or not. If I ever want to grow, I can't run from what he represents, I have to face it and overcome it and become stronger. How I am now is stable, or more stable in any case. I might even be able to live my own life after this."

"Wasn't it a risk, though?" Terra asked, his own voice quiet with worry.

Ventus snorted. "Of course it was a risk. It was also the right thing to do, no matter how I may not like it. Guys, I _feel_ like I'm healing—really healing—for the first time since Xehanort's experiment. Besides, I'm going to have you two with me to straighten me out, right?"

The other two still didn't look too sure, but they did both smile.

"Right," they agreed simultaneously.

"Oh, Ventus," a new, high-pitched voice from off to the side drew his attention. He looked down to see King Mickey. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Ven returned the little king's smile. "Thanks, Your Majesty."

"Call me Mickey," he said with a grin and included the whole trio in that.

"This is all well and good," yet another voice cut in and everyone turned to the tall red-head that Ventus hadn't been introduced to yet, "but we do have a bad-guy to take out."

"It's great that Sora was able to help you," Riku said, "but I agree with Lea. We need to figure out how to stop Xehanort."

"Right!"

And, like the good little soldiers they were, Aqua and Terra practically snapped to attention. Ventus didn't like it in the least, but he did see the necessity of putting all that aside and working together. He didn't much care for the resentment he suddenly felt and decided he'd have to file that away for later. Somehow, he felt he had still underestimated how difficult this whole 'healing' process would take.

"Um, about that," Sora spoke up a little sheepishly.

"I know that look," Kairi said, putting her hands on her hips. "What's wrong?"

"Well, because it's the body I've been inhabiting, I kind of have to be part of whatever drives him out."

That got immediate responses from just about everyone.

"What?!"

"No way!"

"Are you crazy?!"

"Did you miss the part about the bad guy using you to take over the universe?"

"Guys!" Sora said as loudly as he could. Only then could Ven notice the slight echo in his voice. A mental projection of some sort? He wasn't actually using sounds, was he? He was a spirit at this point after all...

Ventus shook the thought from his mind. Focus. Unsurprisingly, his head felt like it was constantly being pulled in two different directions. It wasn't terrible, but it was rather...distracting.

"Guys, I have to be in there or no one will be able to drive him out," Sora insisted.

At that point, Lea broke in again. "Then how do we stop Mr. Tall-White-And-Jerky from using you?"

"Yeah, it's too risky, Sora," Riku agreed.

The brunet shook his head. "No, guys, it _has_ to be that way. But, I think I have an answer. Look, we beat all of the Xehanorts, right?" Everyone nodded. "Right, so Lea, is Isa awake yet?"

Lea frowned. "No." He shot a worried look over to his friend.

"It's because Xehanort still has ties to them. Those links are considerably more fragile than they used to be but they're there. I can sense them. He's using their energy to anchor himself."

"He didn't need to do that when he took my body over," Terra protested. "Why does he need other energy now? And does that mean he still has some tie to me?" Ven could here the slight waver in his voice that most people would have missed. He realized that Terra was scared. That bothered him. He'd never seen Terra scared before.

Up until that point, Ven didn't think anyone else had really seen Sora like he had. After taking refuge in his heart and seeing him like he had in the Keyblade Graveyard, he had a unique perspective that no one else did. In the graveyard, he'd stopped speaking like Sora, and it wasn't just the crazy, multiple voice either. The actions had still been there, but the vocabulary and inflections had changed.

Once they'd gotten back to the island, Sora had reverted to his more familiar, simpler way of speaking, except for a slip up every now and then. 'Considerably more fragile'? Yeah, definitely not Sora-like. But it had just been a few words and phrases here and there, nothing overt or blaring.

But when he looked at Terra right then, it almost seemed as if it wasn't Sora at all. Again, his appearance hadn't changed, per se, but Ven didn't think anyone could deny the difference.

" **In regards to his ties to you, Terra of the Earthshaker, they could very well exist, but they would be to your body if they are there at all. You have made your own mind and heart immune to him.**

" **As for why he needs more energy now, there are several reasons. First, this is not his original body nor is it a jump from his original body. Thus he requires more energy. Second, there are at least two separate entities opposing him. They will ultimately fail, but are currently holding him at bay and that will cost him. Third, even mental energy cannot last indefinitely and he needs replenishment until he can gain a solid hold in that body."**

For several seconds on one spoke and everyone seemed to only be able to stare in shock at Sora. Then, everyone exchanged glances with everyone else. Ven felt a stab of vindication. At least he wasn't the only one creeped out by that.

"Right," Mickey spoke up, breaking the silence. "What do we do?"

And Sora was back again, smiling that goofy smile at the little king. "Sorry about that. Kind of gets the better of me sometimes. What I need you all to do is anchor me."

Kairi frowned and asked the question first. "What do you mean, anchor?"

"Well, I'm connected to everyone through their Keyblades, right?" More nods all around the circle. "Everyone needs to stand in a circle and point their Keyblades at the person who will dive into...er...well, me, and I'll show you how to anchor me to them."

"Dive? Y' mean like Riku did during the Mastery exam?" Goofy asked.

Sora nodded. "A lot like that, yeah. Anyone who's an anchor will reach through their Keyblade and I'll reach back. Then I need them to hold me to whoever is there fighting Xehanort. With at least six people and a wielder, that should be more than enough to keep me away from him, no matter what summoning spell he has."

"Wait," Aqua spoke this time, looking puzzled from her place under the tree and near Ven (he suspected she wanted to stay out of the sun because she'd been in the darkness for so long that her skin would burn to say the least). "So whoever dives into you will be using you—the _X_ -blade—to fight Xehanort?"

Sora blinked for a moment as if that should have been obvious. "Yes."

"This is the real battle, isn't it?" Mickey asked quietly. Everyone turned to him. He seemed to be watching the sand in front of him as if it held all the secrets of the universe. "Seven hearts of light and thirteen of darkness."

The _X_ -blade nodded slowly. "Yes. The only reason I can be here and whole as I am is because all of the hearts came into play. I had to bring Aqua here from the realm of darkness," he nodded towards her but kept his eyes on the mouse, "but I could only do that because Terra, Ven and you still had your connection to her. The connections are the key. **All of the shards have been joined together, and I am once again reforged.** "

"I thought you already were," Ven said, unable to help himself. Somehow he doubted they'd be able to get more answers later, and having answers definitely appealed to him. Even if they could get answers later, he didn't see a point in not getting some now.

Sora frowned and the strange voice continued when he spoke. **"To an extent. But, much like you, I had been shattered and could not be fully whole until all of the shards had been collected."**

"I dunno," Lea said skeptically. "Everyone being here and connected and everything that's happened...it seems like an awful lot of coincidences."

Sora smiled at him, an old, knowing smile that wasn't Sora at all. " **And yet, here we are, as it was destined to be."**

Lea frowned but kept silent.

"Alright," Riku said, drawing attention back to the task at hand. "So someone will go and fight Xehanort in, more or less, the ultimate battle of light and dark while everyone else stays here and makes sure Xehanort can't get to Sora, right?"

"Right," Sora responded with a firm nod. Ven just wished he'd make up his mind about that strange, mystical voice.

"Then I volunteer to be the one to dive."

Instantly the entire group protested...loudly. Ven just sighed and shrank back a little. After so long with only himself, and then just Xion and Roxas for company, so many people felt overwhelming, especially when each one seemed determined to argue with someone else.

"Alright, now, that's enough!" King Mickey finally yelled and managed to get everyone's attention. When the beach had finally calmed down enough, he spoke again. "That's better. Now, I'm sure everyone wants to have a chance to take out Xehanort. Honestly, everyone here is more than qualified. Either you're Keyblade Masters," he nodded to Aqua and Riku, "or pretty doggone close." He gestured to Kairi, Lea, Ven and Terra. "But only one of us can dive, right Sora?"

The specter nodded. "More than one or two more people in my mind could destroy it. I'd...rather avoid that."

"Right," Mickey said with a firm nod of his head. "So, we'll go around the circle and have everyone say why they should be the one to wield the _X-_ blade," he looked over at Sora who nodded back, "to fight him. Riku? Why don't you start."

The white-haired boy sitting next to Mickey nodded, jaw tight as he stood. "Xehanort, in one form or another, destroyed my island, tricked me into joining the darkness and turn against my best friends, tried to steal my body (actually succeeded for a while), haunted my mind and changed the form of my body. He then tried to imprison my best friend and has been terrorizing worlds and people I've become good friends with. Also, I've stopped his nobody before and that's why I should be the one to fight him." He looked around the circle of warriors, eyes hard, before he sat down and Kairi stood rigidly.

"He destroyed my island too, after he and Maleficent also destroyed the world I grew up in—the world I was supposed to lead in the future, which may or may not happen at this point. He then forced my heart to flee its body and take refuge simply so I wouldn't become a tool of the darkness. It didn't work and the keyhole had to be opened anyway. He or his lackeys," she shot a glare at Lea who looked rather offended, "have kidnapped me on at least three separate occasions and tormented my friends when all I could do was watch. I'm sick of watching and I've trained just as hard as anyone here to get the strength I need to take him on, so I would like to be the one to fight him."

She said that last part with more than a little fervor but sat down calmly as Lea, who happened to be sitting next to her, stood.

"Yeah, well, Radiant Garden was my home too. He ruined it and everyone who lived there either became heartless, died or fled. I couldn't flee and I didn't die. Might have been nicer. Ended up as a nobody and Xehanort had me and my best friend do his dirty work. Then he back-stabbed us, let my nobody die, imprisoned my first best friend after sending me to kill the second. Then he tried to turn Isa into one of his stinking darknesses! I know how he fights and I totally deserve this. Got it memorized?"

Aqua knelt next to Lea and stood as stoically as ever as he sat back down. "I don't remember much of the last decade because I've been stuck, unaging, in the dark realm. Before that, he made me watch as my brothers in arms—the people I accepted as my family—were systematically targeted and mutilated in body, spirit and heart. He also struck my master down on top of everything else. In all honesty, though, I feel I should be the one to fight Xehanort because I am a Keyblade Master. I would do this whether he had wronged me or not, if it becomes my duty. Going into a battle angry will not serve us and I know I have the discipline to fight and win. Thank you."

Ven sat next to Aqua. When everyone turned to him, he just shook his head. Everyone else had it so much worse than having to sleep inside a safe, sheltered heart for a few decades.

Terra looked Ven over worriedly before he stood. "Xehanort tore my heart and mind from my body before he used it to wreak his evil on the world. All of his experiments, the heartless and nobodies, were all done by these hands." He held them out and looked at them as if they disgusted him. "This body became a heartless and a nobody. These hands helped to tear the worlds apart and snuff out stars. These hands were the ones that tortured each and every one of you...and I am so sorry that I wasn't strong enough then. I would like the chance to prove that I am strong enough now."

A heavy silence fell as he seated himself next to Ven again. Donald and Goofy sat next, each of them looking rather put-out that they wouldn't be able to join. Neither one spoke, though, and that brought them back to Mickey.

"Gosh," he said sadly, "everyone has good reasons. Compared to everyone here, my life's been pretty tame. I've had to fight against Xehanort and his evil without knowing anything about him. I've seen the worlds that have been taken by the heartless and I've been inside the darkness of Kingdom Hearts, but that's about the worst that's happened to me."

With a slow shake of his head, he turned to look at Sora.

"What do you think, Sora?"

The _X-_ blade glanced at everyone, eyes just as sad as the King's.

"You all have good reasons to want to fight Xehanort. But I think that Ven should do it."

The blond in question jumped and stared at Sora, flabbergasted. Why had he said that?

"What?!"

"Why?!" Several people yelled. Sora just raised a hand. After a few moments, it quieted down enough that he was able to keep talking.

"You're all forgetting a few things. Riku and Terra, you were both tricked into giving up your freedom. Kairi, you were taken again and again and used for your innate power. Aqua and Lea, you both spent far too much time in the realm of darkness, trapped inside a foreign place that you couldn't escape. But you are all sitting here, maybe not as happy or as carefree as you used to be, but still whole. Ven..." he shot an apologetic glance at the teen. "Will probably never be. That hole in your heart will always be something you have to work around. One day, it might heal, but it's more likely that it won't. You were his first pupil and by far his worst off. You have just as much skill as anyone else here, and you will be able to use me better because you've been with me since this all started."

Everyone just seemed to stare at either Sora or Ven.

"Well?" King Mickey asked as he walked up to Ven. "What do you think?"

Really Ven just wanted to bury himself under the sand at his feet. "I—I'm...how can I be the best choice?! I'm not even a Master!"

"Says who?" Sora asked, looking extremely amused.

"I was never given the mark of mastery!"

"By your master, no. But I've seen you fight and I know what you're capable of. As the representative of all Keyblades, I give you the mark of Mastery."

"Wait, you can't do that, Sora!" Riku protested. "You don't have the Mark yourself."

"As Sora, no. As the _X-_ blade, why wouldn't I be qualified?"

Ven could tell that the proclamation made Riku and Kairi uneasy. It just served as a reminder that they didn't have any real knowledge as to how this would turn out—how it _should_ turn out.

"B-but...what if I don't want to be the one to do it?" Ven heard himself ask and shrunk back when everyone turned their attention back to him.

Sora stepped (floated?) forward and knelt down in front of him, a soft smile on his transparent face. "Then you don't have to do it. Just know that I have every faith in you. You have the most motivation and the purest intentions."

"How can I?" Ven protested. "I hate him! I hate what he did to me!" It felt relieving somehow to say. He hadn't felt anything like this in...well, two decades if Sora was to be believed, and Ven most certainly was not used to it. Acknowledging it felt...freeing, even if it wasn't a hundred percent accurate, because Ven could still feel that part of him that cared for his old master. He didn't _want_ to feel that. Not after everything that had happened, so he focused on the unfamiliar (totally familiar) negativity. "I want him to suffer the way I do!"

The look of sadness that crossed Sora's face stopped him from saying any more.

" **He is."**

Sora must have seen the look of surprise and disbelief on everyone's face because he went on, speaking in what Ven was quickly coming to term his "Keyblade Voice".

" **He manifested a Keyblade. He was a good soul once. His desperate need to control everything around him—to hold and maintain the light—is what led him to this point. In pursuit of his goal, he mutilated his soul, heart and mind beyond repair. He gave up his body and now exists as little more than a parasite clinging to his original goal. I hope that in defeating him, he will be able to gain peace along with everyone else because he has suffered for his decisions far more than anyone else."** His gaze didn't gain an ounce of accusation when he looked pointedly at Ven. **"Including you."**

Then the sides of his mouth turned up slightly although no mirth crept into the expression, it only made him look more grim. **"And I know you know it."**

Ven turned away because, well, it was true. He'd had a lot of time to think about everything that had happened, and hearing his suspicions confirmed didn't erase the pain from his own heart, but it did stop him from wanting to cause the man more.

"But...what if I don't succeed?" Ven managed to ask, feeling small and weak. He brought his hands together, wringing them simply because it gave him something to focus on other than their conversation.

"What do ya mean,'what if you don't succeed'?" Lea suddenly spoke up, exasperated. "That's what we're here for, to make sure you do."

"Don't think we'd let you do this alone," Terra affirmed.

"I believe in you," Aqua said with a smile.

"But..." Ven started, unsure of what to say after that.

"Oh, we're not happy about it," Terra assured him, frowning and crossing his arms. "I'd love to have a shot at the guy. But if Sora says you're the best person, then I believe it."

Aqua nodded. "It's one of the first lessons we learned, remember? Trust your Keyblade."

Ven did remember. He remembered Master Eraqus' drilling it into their heads over and over again. Ven had asked if that meant Keyblades were intelligent. Eraqus had responded that no one knew for sure, but they definitely had a will of their own, usually far more pure and true than their human counterparts.

" **You cannot go into this unsure. If you still do not believe that you are the best candidate, then choose another."**

The blond was sure the dread he felt was visible for all to see. "Wait, why me? Why not you?"

" **I made my choice. I will comply with whatever you decide now."**

He looked around at everyone there and they all stared back. After a few moments, he glanced over at Riku and Kairi. They hadn't said much the whole time.

"What about you guys?"

Kairi blinked and exchanged glances with Riku.

"Us?"

"Yeah," Ven said. "What do you think about me fighting Xehanort instead of you?"

Kairi sighed and deflated ever so slightly. Riku just shook his head.

"We trust Sora's judgment."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Donald asked, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

Sora, in all his maturity, stuck his tongue out. Donald, in equal measure, returned the gesture. Kairi giggled at the byplay and Riku rolled his eyes. Both looked better—lighter—for it.

"He may be an idiot—"

"Hey!" Well, at least the Sora voice was back.

"But," Riku continued, his features softening, "I don't know anyone who has a purer heart. If he says you can do it, I believe him."

Kairi nodded. "What he said. We've never been given any reason to doubt him...or you."

"So, what do you say, Ven?" Sora asked one final time.

Ven looked around, and while the uncertainty hadn't vanished, he really could see and feel everyone's support of him. For the first time he honestly and truly felt like he _could_ do this, and that maybe if he did, he could _really_ finish healing.

As if to banish his final, lingering doubts, he glanced up at Sora.

"You really think I can do this?"

The boy smiled. "Yes, Ven, I do."

Ven's eyes narrowed for a moment. Something in the other's expression was off. He almost seemed...triumphant in a way. After a moment, he realized what it must mean.

"You knew this was how it would be, didn't you? From the beginning."

Sora nodded once. **"Some things are destined to be."**

Ven sighed and shook his head. "Alright, I'll do it, but on one condition."

" **What is it?"** Sora asked, cocking his head to one side in puzzlement.

"Stop using that voice. If I'm going into that fight, I'm going in there with Sora—the Sora who freely gave his heart so I could live—the Sora I've come to know up until this point."

If anything, the brunet looked elated. "Anything you say, boss," he said and put out his hand. Ven eyed it for a moment, wondering if he could even touch it. Then he figured it didn't really matter in the end anyway, reached out and made as if to shake. He was surprised when he did feel something there, but he took it in stride and shook it firmly.

"Alright!" Sora said, turning around. "Let's beat Xehanort once and for all!"

Everyone heartily agreed.

xXx

Seriously, thank Lexik.


	6. Xehanort

Ventus stood in front of the shield surrounding Sora's body as the transparent Sora explained to Donald and Goofy that protecting the Keyblade Wielders was up to them. They didn't know what would happen once Ventus dove into Sora's mind. When Terra and Xehanort fought for control, nothing happened outside, but other similar clashes (Ventus and Vanitus, for instance) had some rather nasty consequences. It was even possible for the other pseudo-Xehanorts to show up and it would be up to the two non-Keyblade holders to protect everyone else.

Meanwhile, Ven made sure he had everything he needed. Ethers and Elixers wouldn't be of much help down there, but the damage to his mind might affect his body too, and apparently if someone out here could give him something to help his health or magic, it should help him in there too. They'd just have to keep an eye on any damage he took.

Ven tried to keep the butterflies in his stomach from taking over. He would be lying if he said he was confident about this, no matter what Sora said. He did trust Sora, how could he not? But that didn't make him _feel_ ready.

"Alright," Sora said suddenly. "Everyone stand in a half-circle around Ven." Each of the Keyblade wielders lined up. King Mickey and Kairi stood in the middle. Riku, predictably, planted himself firmly on Kairi's other side and Lea took the end position. Aqua had taken the place next to Mickey, the mouse standing on her right and Terra on her left.

"Right," Sora said with a nod. "Now everyone point their Keyblades at Ven." Ven couldn't help but gulp a little at that. Having someone point their Keyblade at you usually meant they were about to attack. He had to remind himself that he was among friends. It worked, but the fact that he had to do that at all bothered him.

"Each of you has a connection with your Keyblade," Sora went on. "Find that connection, feel for it, and then try to find Ven. When you find him, you'll find me."

Ven frowned, wondering just how someone would go about doing that, but no one complained so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

"Ven," Sora's voice had him looking over at the other boy. The transparent specter held his hand out again. Ven just looked at it for a second before glancing back up at Sora. "Call your Keyblade."

He really didn't know where this was going, but decided to follow the instruction anyway. The Wayward Wind appeared in his hand with a flash of light and he held it out. Sora reached out with his upheld hand and put it on the Keyblade's hilt and then closed his eyes. A breeze from nowhere blew around them and then Sora disappeared in a flash of light and the Keyblade in Ven's hand took on the crystalline appearance that everyone elses' had. Except his had changed shape too.

He'd expected the shape of the original _X-_ blade that had appeared when he'd fought Vanitas, but this one looked more like a picture of the Ultima Keyblade that Ventus had seen in one of the books in Master Eraqus' library at one point. Intricate latices and fine points wove around a thin, flowing base, but this one also had a whimsical feel to it that Ventus couldn't really explain. He liked it though. It reminded him of Sora.

 _I'll be with you the whole time,_ Sora's voice said in his head. Ven smiled. Turn about was fair play after all, wasn't it? Now Sora was inside of him for a change. The _X-_ blade must have sensed or heard the thought because Ven felt a distinct chuckle.

He waited for a few minutes, wondering what he needed to do now, or if he should wait for instruction before entering Sora's body, when suddenly he felt everyone else. They all seemed just as surprised as he was, but at that point 'he' seemed more like a 'they'. Was this what Sora felt like now? It wasn't all that different from having Vanitas there now too, although (again) he did feel rather overwhelmed.

Apparently Aqua and Terra picked up on that because they immediately began sending him encouragement. It worked. He could feel their faith in him and the depth of it nearly sent him to tears. It was humbling because he didn't deserve their support, but it was there whether he deserved it or not, and they certainly didn't seem like they'd retract it just because he didn't think he'd earned it.

 _'Okay,'_ Lea's voice rang out, _'this is weird.'_

 _'Kind of...intimate,'_ Kairi agreed, sounding slightly uneasy. Ven concurred. He could hear other people's thoughts and feel their feelings. It would take some getting used to.

 _'Thanks for doing this, everyone,'_ Sora's bubbly happiness piped up, although everyone could probably sense his underlying anxiety. So not even he knew exactly what was going to happen. That somehow made Ven both uneasy and more confident. Uneasy because the _X-_ blade, with all of his (their?) previous knowledge didn't even know how this would all turn out; more confident because they were all on the same page—they all wanted to take down Xehanort, even Sora. The unity made him feel stronger and more sure. _'Alright, Ven, get ready to dive.'_

Right about then, it hit Ven. This was it. The final battle to stop Xehanort; the one that would decide everything. He felt his resolve harden.

 _'Right,'_ he said mentally and felt his hand clench more firmly around the Keyblade.

 _'Okay, put your hand on the shield over my body,'_ Sora instructed. Ven did as he was told, stepping forward on the sand to place a hand on the shield. It rested on the warm energy that formed a dome around Sora's body. _'Now with your mind, push through it. Project your heart out and forward.'_

Ven frowned at that. He'd just gotten his heart back! The idea of dividing himself up again did not sit well with him...but he trusted Sora. And he trusted the people around him. So he took a deep breath and did as he was told.

Suddenly, he was falling and then he landed in the strange emptiness that was Sora's mind. He made a mental note to tease Sora about that later.

 _'Ha, ha,'_ Sora muttered, but it was all in good fun. Riku, Kairi, Lea and King Mickey all laughed. Ven felt grateful for it. He was nervous enough and the laughter helped to break the ice, so to speak.

In the distance, he saw Xion and Roxas still battling Xehanort, but they didn't seem to be fairing very well. They couldn't really breath here, they didn't have physical bodies that could, but their mental projections looked tired and worn. Xehanort didn't seem as fresh as he had before, but he definitely seemed to be in better shape.

 _'Who are they?'_ Kairi asked curiously. _'She looks...kind of like me.'_

Ven mentally sighed. _'It's a long story. I'll tell you when we're done.'_

 _'Alright, but I'll hold you to that,'_ Kairi responded. Several other people sent their general agreement.

 _'We need to get them out of the way so they can rest,'_ Sora said, his mental voice somehow quieter and more somber than it had been before, despite the fact that they weren't 'hearing' it. _'Aqua, you have the best shields of the group. Could you put one up?'_

 _'She can do that?'_ Riku asked, sounding rather incredulous.

 _'Of course she can. Why not?'_ Sora asked.

 _'Yeah, of course,'_ Aqua responded, sounding a little surprised herself. Then, to Ven's astonishment, his hand moved of its own accord and a shield appeared between the two fighting parties. All three of them seemed rather surprised and looked over to Ven.

"Okay, that was weird," Ven said, looking down at his hand.

 _'Sorry, that was me projecting Aqua through you.'_

"Oh." So they could do that too? Did that mean he had everyone elses' abilities for this? Suddenly he felt far more sure about the upcoming battle.

"Ven!" Xion said as she half stumbled, half jogged up to him, sounding as if she would be gasping if they had bodies. "There you are!"

"Where were you?" Roxas asked, sounding much the same. "We..." he paused as he took in Ventus with critical eyes.

"You're different."

"And there's more than just you here," Xion said incredulously. "There are...wait, is that Axel?"

A sudden shot of annoyance from Lea.

"I'm Lea! Got it memorized?" Ven said. Then he put a hand up to his mouth. He'd just said what Lea had wanted to say.

Xion's face suddenly lit up. "You're a somebody again?! Oh, thank goodness!"

More people than just Lea felt surprise at that (and this was getting _really_ disconcerting).

"Wait...I sense Sora too," Roxas said suddenly, his voice low. "Did you bring him back here?!"

Ven glanced down at the Keyblade still in his hand. Apparently that was all Roxas needed for confirmation.

"That goes against everything we were trying to do! Why would you-"

"Roxas," Ven interrupted firmly. Roxas still didn't look too happy, but he did close his mouth. "Do you trust me?"

It took the nobody a few seconds of hard staring before he nodded. "Yes." 

"Then I need you and Xion to stay over here and rest. Sora and I and...well...everyone else will take it from here."

Xion and Roxas exchanged glances. "I don't understand," Xion said.

"And I don't have time to explain. Just, please...trust me."

 _'He's about to break through,'_ Aqua warned. Ven glanced over at Xehanort. Surely enough, the madman held a hand up to the shield. A bright light emanated from the point where the shield and his hand touched.

"Alright," Xion said, her voice rock-solid.

Roxas glanced over at her once more before he deflated and nodded. "We'll be over here if you need us."

"Right. Thanks," Ven said, relieved that he could at least prevent them from being hurt anymore.

He turned and walked toward Xehanort just as the shield fell with a loud bang.

"So, you have returned, my apprentice."

"Former apprentice," Ven said. "The _X-_ blade himself game me the mark of Mastery."

Xehanort laughed aloud. "You? A Master? The standards must have fallen rather drastically then."

A spark of anger flared inside of him. How dare Xehanort of all people say that? The man who undermined his training to begin with! What surprised him more was the defensiveness he felt from more or less everyone in the group. Even Lea.

" **Perhaps we should test that?"** Sora said as a projection of him appeared beside Ven.

"Oh!" Xehanort suddenly seemed delighted. "You've brought my _X-_ blade back! Thank you, my apprentice."

It still hurt, but Ven was surprised the words didn't sting more than they did. Even the hurt seemed to be melting away. Xehanort wasn't acknowledging his skill or current status, but that wasn't exactly unexpected, and after the initial flare of anger(which was really more everyone else instead of him), he didn't feel much towards his old master, at least not in that area.

 _'Xehanort can't hurt you anymore,'_ King Mickey said, his thoughts approving. _'Not like that. You know his words aren't true, and his opinion doesn't mean as much to you anymore.'_

"He's yours, if you can take him from me," Ven replied. The confidence in his voice must have shown because Xehanort frowned.

"Come to me, my Keyblade!" he said as he held his hand out. Ven felt a slight tug, and then nothing. Xehanort's frown deepened as Sora's apparition disappeared with a grin and a wink. Cheeky brat. Ages old weapon or not.

 _'You can call any Keyblade to you to help you,'_ Sora said after he'd vanished. _'Any Keyblade from an owner who consents.'_

 _'You can have mine!'_ Kairi said immediately. It struck Ven as to just how amazing and trusting she was—and so strong for it.

 _'Mine too!'_ Aqua, Riku, and Terra agreed almost immediately afterword.

 _'Gosh, you don't even have to ask,'_ King Mickey said.

 _'Whatever you need to take out the bad guy,'_ Lea said at last. As each person spoke, he felt their Keyblades all appear behind him, floating in a circle that framed him. He didn't turn his head to look, not daring to take his eyes off of his former master, but he knew they were there.

Xehanort was practically scowling now. "Very well. We shall pit your light against my darkness, one final time."

Then, much to Ven's dismay, a row of dark Keyblades appeared behind him as well.

 _'Okay, there's definitely a drain on my energy,'_ Terra muttered, upset.

 _'Wait, why are they all Keyblades?'_ Riku asked. _Not all of the darknesses were weilders.'_

 _'He's using them as if they are,'_ Sora responded, sounding utterly disgusted. _'He's_ forcing _them into that form! It goes against everything a Keyblade wielder should stand for!'_

They didn't have time for anything else, because at that moment, Xehanort attacked. Ven met with his own show of force and the clash seemed to shake their surroundings. For a moment, Ven worried that they might do some damage to Sora's mind, but then the person in question reassured him.

 _'Nah, as long as we don't bring any extra people in here—and I don't mean in the form of Keyblades because that still requires an anchor outside—we should be fine. It is a mindscape after all. Shouldn't anything be possible?'_

Ven dodged a swing from several of the blades, vaulting over them as they flew at him.

 _'Wait, if anything's possible...'_

 _'Within reason,'_ Sora cautioned soberly. _'Also, remember that he has a stronger hold as of right now and will until we drive him out.'_

 _'May not want to give him ideas,'_ Riku said quietly, his voice sounding more like a mutter in his head.

Ven grunted as Xehanort brought no less than three Keyblades down on the one he held in his hand. _'Right.'_

Still, this was looking very one sided. He needed something more...wait.

"Hey, Roxas, Xion! Can I borrow your Keyblades really fast?" Because while they technically were a part of Sora (and maybe even him), they both held their own Keyblades. That could come in handy.

"What?" He heard Roxas ask incredulously.

"Just—" he swung and dodge rolled several times to get out of the way of yet another attack. "Just trust me! Please!" he said after he jumped up from his final dodge.

He couldn't take his eyes off of his opponent, but he figured the two of them exchanged looks.

"Then yeah," Xion finally responded.

"As long as we get them back," Roxas agreed.

He didn't see their surprise when their keyblades more or less disappeared from their grips and appeared within the tornado of weapons surrounding Ven and Xehanort. It didn't give him an edge, but the two extra keyeblades helped immensely, evening out the playing field a bit. Ven still felt like his former master put him on the defensive though. He'd been able to keep fighting through sheer determination and no small amount of luck. The other six wielders in his head urging him on and lending him strength when they could helped too. His speed and agility trumped Xehanort's, but the madman still had power, stamina and an iron will of his own. Frankly, Ven knew he was getting through by the skin of his teeth. He'd been able to land a few strikes, but it didn't seem to be doing much good.

They fought on until somehow, Xehanort got in a really good hit. Ven didn't know whether it was from his fading strength or the realization of just where they stood in the battle and the resulting distraction that caused, but he went to dodge an attack, and was just too slow. Pain lanced through him as Xehanort's keyblade rammed him in the stomach. Everyone in his mind cried out and he sensed that several of them moved. For an instant, Ven felt his hold on Sora slip and hoped Xehanort couldn't tell. He was also grateful this was in the mindscape because while he moved the same as if he did have a physical body, that blow would have probably had him down for the count in the real world.

 _'No!'_ Mickey thought loudly, tone commanding. _'We said we'd trust Sora and Ven! So now we have to believe in them!'_

Ven appreciated that. He really did. But then Xehanort was there, before he could dodge or twist, and his hand snaked out, grabbing the Keyblade in Ven's hand. Desperately, the blond reached forward and wrapped his own hand around the nearest part of the hilt.

"The _X-_ blade is mine!" Xehanort crowed, half triumphant, half giving an order.

"Not happening!" Ven growled out, trying to keep his own anger and frustration in check. He knew simply lashing out at this point wouldn't do him any good, but he wanted to. Xehanort was just too much and he had begun to feel trapped.

 _'Let me,'_ a new voice spoke. Apparently everyone heard it because everyone seemed surprised and taken back. Ven, however, knew that voice.

"Vanitas," he muttered. In his mind's eye he could see his black-haired counterpart standing, for the first time, patiently, as if simply waiting his for turn. He no longer sported the expression of haughtiness or anger, and although the blank expression Ven could see there still didn't seem to fit on Sora's countenance, it still seemed so out of place on Vanitas that it spurred Ven into making his decision.

He'd never know how his eyes switched color, but despite his temporary relinquish of control—for the most part—he could still see and noted the unhappy surprise on Xehanort's face.

"Hello, old man," he heard himself say in a much deeper voice.

 _'Ven!'_ Aqua said worriedly, _'What are you doing?'_

 _'Trust me,'_ Ven thought back.

 _'We do trust you,'_ Terra cut in.

Ven smiled internally. _'Then you trust him.'_

They still weren't happy, and Ven could tell they weren't the only ones, but they did back off. It was a good thing they did too because it allowed Ven to focus. And then they moved.

He didn't know how his body was even capable of maneuvering as Vanitas made it, but he'd been able to throw Xehanort off and proceeded to use the Keyblades in ways Ven hadn't even considered. He seemed to think multiple steps ahead with a focus that bordered on scary.

 _'He taught me well,'_ was all Vanitas would say on the subject, and it still seemed entirely too bitter.

As round two continued, things began to flash across his mind. Every now and then (and it grew more frequent as the battle continued) he'd know what Vanitas was doing and could remember what would come next. He began to understand and somehow almost _remember_ which strikes would be the best to follow up an attack and he began to be able to contribute to Vanitas' fight. Thankfully his other half welcomed the help and their movements seemed to flow more. Their surroundings somehow slowed down and they took full advantage.

More images of Xehanort—the old, Master Xehanort—teaching him shot through his head. They were entirely unfamiliar to him.

 _'Why can I remember these?'_ he wondered because they weren't his. They had to be Vanitas'.

 _'The cracks in your soul that separate you and Vanitas are closing. You're healing.'_ Sora said sounding relieved and pleased.

 _'I thought I had already healed!'_ Ven replied, many of the other voices echoing his sentiment.

Sora chuckled as if something entirely naive amused him. _'Something like that doesn't just heal. You started the process. You and Vanitas both are keeping it going.'_

 _'Will you two shut up?!'_ Vanitas growled, but there was little malice behind his intent. Still, he brought up a good point.

 _'Sorry.'_ Ven muttered.

"So," the madman cut through their thoughts as Vanitas and Xehanort broke away from their fight, each landing hard on the blackened ground and refusing to look away from the other. "Vanitas. I thought I sensed you."

"Miss me?"

Xehanort just raised one of his eyebrows as he studied Vanitas intently. "Why have you chosen to fight for them? What could they possibly offer you that I cannot match?"

A few of the others (namely Terra and Aqua) allowed their worry to spike. Despite the fact that a day ago, Ven would have agreed with them, he had to scoff now. Did they really think that Vanitas would just join Xehanort again? Did they think that Ven would? Because both of them would have to go this time. Too many of Vanitas' thoughts were running through Ven's, and he suspected the reverse as well.

To all of their surprise, Vanitas laughed outright. "You really don't get it, old man. I was never on your side. I thought you knew that."

And Xehanort actually chuckled. "Of course I did. But why them?"

At that point, Ven interrupted. To his surprise, he and Vanitas both spoke. Having two voices coming out of his mouth felt disconcerting, and he wondered if Sora felt like this when speaking in his 'Keyblade voice'.

" **Because we're whole and we're free."**

"Free from your machinations," Vanitas' voice that time.

"And finally able to heal again," Ven agreed.

Xehanort shook his head and sighed. "I thought I had educated you well enough. It seems I was wrong." Then he frowned directly at Ven. "Vanitas, you don't need the light."

Ven was about to answer, but Vanitas beat him to it. "I need the light like Ven needs the darkness. We can only progress by knowing the other side. If you don't know that, you'll never be able to wield the _X-_ blade to his full potential."

At that, Xehanort grinned. It wasn't nice. "And you will?"

Vanitas matched his grin. "Absolutely."

The thought that ran through Ven's mind at that point definitely originated from Vanitas, but it almost made him want to hit his head. How had he not thought of that?!

 _'The Keyblades will come to the X-blade first,'_ Vanitas answered, his voice surprisingly calm and patient.

Ven didn't know if it was because something of Vanitas still resided in the Keyblade Graveyard or if he'd simply figured out how to reach across time and space, but the Keyblades answered his call. Somehow he had reached out to the Graveyard and all of them—every single one—appeared in the black ground around them, as if suddenly thrown there at great speed. Then, as one, they rose.

Xehanort's eyes grew wide when he saw what was coming and managed to throw up a shield before the wave of keys hit him. In the back of his mind, Ven sensed confusion and wonder from the others, but he was too focused on working with Vanitas to use the Keyblades against Xehanort to concentrate on it at all.

"NO!" Xehanort growled angrily. "NO! I will have it! The _X-_ blade is mine!"

" **He was never yours,"** Ven and Vanitas stated simply. **"He is his own person and will always belong to himself."**

With that, they shot forward just as his shield fell, and Ven knew their Keyblade had sliced straight through his old master. Out of the corner of his eye, Ven saw Xehanort's Keyblade fall from his hand, knocked away only to be caught by Sora.

Ven and Vanitas both stood and blinked in surprise. Then they looked down and saw that the Keyblade they held was their own Wayward Wind yet again. When had that happened?

Sora looked down at the dark Keyblade in his hand and the other dark Keyblades behind Xehanort vanished. Then he looked up at Xehanort, his eyes so full of sadness it almost made Ven's heart break all over again.

" **Xehanort, you were allowed the oldest Keyblade. You were judged at one point to be worthy of the greatest of honors. Now I see that honor should not have been bestowed upon any mortal. I am sorry."** With that, he bowed ever so slightly. When he stood, though, his face bore a hardness that looked far more at home on Vanitas. **"However, you must answer for your crimes. You blighted countless worlds and lives in pursuit of your goal. You made your goal destroying the worlds and remaking them as you saw fit. You broke your vows as a Keyblade Wielder and instead of bringing peace, you brought ruin. Do you deny this?"**

Xehanort, suddenly looking almost as old as Ven remembered him, grinned maniacally. "I deny nothing!"

Sora seemed to sag ever so slightly. **"By your own admission you are judged by all Keyblades as being unworthy of wielding one."** He held his hand with the Keyblade out and it began to glow.

For the first time, Xehanort's eyes widened in fear. "No, no wait! You can't destroy that! It will kill me!"

Sora shook his head sadly. **"But you are already dead. You died when you gave up your body and tried to forcibly take on another. I am merely sending you on. Despite everything you have done, I wish you peace in the life to come."**

"No, NO!" Xehanort said, lurching forward desperately, hand outstretched as if to grab either Sora or the Keyblade (or both?), but then the light in Sora's hand flared. It wasn't like the soft, white light that had faded into existence whenever Sora had used his power before, but a bright, harsh light that seemed to penetrate everything.

Ven had to look away and he still felt he would be blinking stars out of his vision for decades to come.

When he turned back again, Sora stood with an empty outstretched hand, still looking as if his heart had been torn in two. Xehanort was nowhere to be seen. For a moment Ven himself felt a shot of pity for the man who had given up so much for nothing because he had convinced himself that nothing was everything.

They sat there for who knew how long, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Ven! Sora!" Both of them seemed to snap back to the present as they turned to meet the two figures running up to them.

"Roxas! Xion!" Sora said happily and ran up to them, throwing his arms around them both, much to their surprise.

 _'Wait, Isa?!'_ Lea's voice rang out in their heads and then everyone was gone, leaving the four of them alone in the blackness of Sora's mind. Ven actually stumbled with the loss, not realizing how much he'd come to rely on everyone else. Still, he welcomed the relative stillness.

"Wait," Roxas said, shaking his head and glancing around worriedly. "Where's Xehanort?"

Sora's face fell. "He's passed on."

Xion's own eyes widened in shock. "You killed him?"

Sora sighed. "No, I cut off his tie to this world. It wasn't natural. He shouldn't have been here. So I sent him on to where he belongs."

Roxas just blinked at him for several minutes. "Wait, you mean...he can't come back?"

The brunet took a deep breath but managed a weak smile. It looked completely fake to Ven, but he applauded the effort mentally. "No."

At that, Roxas nearly collapsed in relief. "Then it's over."

"Finally," Ven murmured. They had succeeded. It was...surreal. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to fix what Xehanort had done. They still had so much to work on. There were worlds that needed to be rebuilt and heartless to take care of and Kingdom Hearts even.

Kingdom Hearts.

Something occurred to Ven and he turned to Sora in shock. "You're Kingdom Hearts."

Everyone looked over at him with varying degrees of confusion, except for Sora. He looked impressed.

"I'm the lock to Kingdom Hearts—the entrance, you could say," he corrected, "which is why I can harbor hearts."

"Wait," Xion cut in quietly. "If you're the entrance to Kingdom Hearts...what exactly _is_ it?"

The soft smile that appeared on Sora's face seemed far too old for him. "It's a save haven for lost hearts, kind of a half-way point between this world and the next. "It shouldn't really exist, and most hearts that go there do end up simply moving on."

"Like Xehanort just did?" Roxas asked sardonically.

Sora shot him a glare. "Something like that," he replied defiantly. Roxas just raised an eyebrow in return.

"When a heart is removed unnaturally from a body, the body and mind _should_ die."

The sudden spark of realization that lit up Roxas' face seemed quite the contrast from his expression only moments before.

"Which is why nobodies shouldn't exist."

Sora nodded, "yup."

"Wait," Xion said again, "if that's the case, then Kingdom Hearts itself shouldn't exist."

Again Sora smiled widely looking pleased. "Yup."

"Then, why does it?" Ven asked.

"And who created it?" Xion added.

Sora glanced around at all three of them as if to study them for a few moments before he apparently decided to answer with a shrug.

"Since the worlds have forgotten it, I'll tell you. Keyblade wielders should know. The person who created Kingdom Hearts was the creator of the Keyblade...and the original wielder of Xehanort's Keyblade."

Stunned silence met his proclamation, so Sora continued. "His name was Nomura*."

xXx

*Because why not? Thought it would be a fun nod to the head guy. :D

Thanks again to Lexik


	7. Keyblade History

Isa felt as if he'd just woken up from a dream of some sort. No, not a dream, a nightmare. He could feel a coat on his arms and the sun beating down on him, and yet he still felt chilled. Somehow he was glad he couldn't remember it, even as he seemed to instinctively strain for it.

"Isa!"

He didn't really want to open his eyes, but he knew he'd have to eventually. Besides, that voice sounded familiar. The sunlight streamed down brightly and he had to lift an arm to shade his sight against it. When he did, his eyes widened.

"Lea?" He felt like it had been months—years even—since he'd seen his friend. The last time he remembered...the black creatures had infiltrated their world and were turning everyone into one and then he'd seen one grab Lea. Now he could only blink up at his friend. "Y-you're alright?"

The red-head closed his eyes and shook his head as he chuckled. It sounded more relieved than joyful.

"After everything, you ask _me_ that?"

"But the shadows..."

Lea just blinked down at him for several seconds. "The last thing you remember is Radiant Garden's invasion?"

Isa frowned. "Should I remember anything else?" Actually, how _had_ he gotten out of that if the shadows had turned everyone else into one of them?

The look Lea gave him then seemed almost...jealous? Surely not.

"Maybe that's for the better," Lea finally said and sat down by Isa. "In the mean time, I have some people to introduce to you."

The longer the conversation continued, the more confused Isa felt. "Wait, where are we? And how did we get here?"

Lea smiled at him. It wasn't a smile he'd ever seen on his best friend's face before. Kind of sardonic and a tad bit sadistic while still being somehow caring. It kind of scared Isa if he were honest with himself, not that he'd ever admit it aloud. It reminded him of someone else...someone who looked like Lea but had markings on his face...

But who was that? He couldn't quite remember and he put a hand up to his head, as if that would allow him to do so.

"Isa, buddy," Lea said, "I have a long story for ya."

xXx

Sora gathered his thoughts for a lengthy amount of time before he finally opened his mouth. "Long ago...like a seriously long time, guys. We're talking thousands of years, K?"

Ven rolled his eyes, a motion copied by Roxas. "We get it. Move on."

"Right," Sora said sheepishly and put a hand up to rub at the back of his head. They all—Sora, Roxas, Xion and Ven—sat in a circle inside of Sora's mind. It was familiar company and Ven found he was perfectly content to stay here for just a while longer, especially if they would get answers.

Fortunately, Sora seemed only too happy to comply.

"Well, at that time, there was only one world. The people who had come to exist on that world had grown into an advanced race in technology and science. Well...mostly. They got so smart regarding how the world around them worked that they thought _everything_ would work that way. They tried to manipulate other people into doing what they wanted without any consequence. They didn't think about the future at all, except as to how it could make them more money or get them more power and knowledge. There was a war—a terrible war that shouldn't have ever happened—and it took place when people were just discovering the power of the spirit and the heart. They wanted to harness it—use it for whatever end would benefit them the best, no matter who it hurt."

Xion seemed to grasp this right away and just stared at Sora in horror.

Then Ven went through the words in his mind again and realized just what the _X-_ blade meant. "Wait, they used people—used _lives—_ for power?"

Sora looked sick as he nodded (something the rest of them seemed to feel as well if the bile churning in Ven's stomach was anything to go by). "That's when the first heartless were born.

"One of the people working on the project, a man named Nomura, didn't like what had happened and wanted to undo the damage, especially as it was spreading and the higher-ups didn't seem to care. Going against his superiors, he used what had been collected from the hearts to create Kingdom Hearts so that any hearts lost after that could find a safe harbor there. He also created the first and oldest Keyblade with the knowledge he'd learned.

"He was the first to really understand and care about what kind of damage this power could do, and so he took his own research and his Keyblade and ran away from those he'd been working for, seeking to fight against them instead. Just before he left, though, he found out that the company he'd been working for had discovered the heart of the world, and wanted to find it and use it as the ultimate power source. I think that's what drove him to finally leave.

"In his travels, he came to realize that others could manifest a Keyblade if given the chance, and so he gave his new power to everyone he could. Many turned on him as he tried to stop the company from reaching the heart of the world, but just as many stayed and fought by his side. Because of this, conflict escalated. The world was already in a state of war by that point, and the keyblades and the power of the heart didn't help. Actually it became a large motivation to keep the war going as people fought to possess the ultimate power. By the end of it all, Keyblades had become almost commonplace, which, sadly, didn't help matters.

"Some new factions popped up along the way, but didn't have the strength or determination to really compete for control of the world's heart. After they realized this, they banded together, determined that if they could not possess it, then no one would, and they began to make plans to destroy the light. When Nomura heard of their plans, he gathered all of those still loyal to his cause and combined their powers and his knowledge to make the ultimate Keyblade, one that would help them protect the light from those who would misuse or destroy it."

"You," Xion whispered.

Sora nodded.

"I was given the task of guarding Kingdom Hearts—all of the lost hearts—until they could return the world to normal. It was a task they had previously held themselves, but they'd decided that they would need everyone to stop the destruction of the world. If they needed extra power, then they would summon me, but otherwise I was left behind as they set off to save the world. They did call me, but even then they...didn't succeed. Those who wanted to destroy the heart of the world did so much damage, but instead of destroying the light as they'd intended, they shattered it, sending the remnants of the original world, both physical and heart-related, scattering into the darkness.

"Every world we come across is based in some way off of that original world."

"That makes sense," Ven mused. He'd always wondered why so many worlds looked so similar.

"Children proved to be the most resistant to the darkness that fell after the light shattered and eventually their hearts found their way to the new worlds that formed from the fragments of the heart of the original world. That was when I noticed how many of the hearts that had come to Kingdom Hearts were moving onto the next life. I know they didn't simply cease to exist, and yet I couldn't find any trace of them anywhere. I also noticed that many of those hearts remaining in this world under my protection wished to build up the light again and they also left me, gravitating towards the new worlds and restoring what light they could.

"Slowly, the worlds grew and became stable and people began to build lives and families again. Some of them had once been Keyblade wielders. They took on the role of protecting their respective planets from the Darkness because the light called to them—Keyblades are made from the light of hearts, after all. Many of them still remembered the terrible war and passed on their teachings to new generations in their worlds...sometimes passing on things that should have been forgotten, other times forgetting things that shouldn't have been lost.

"When they discovered that they could move between worlds, they began to communicate and build a traveling system. Finally they constructed the lanes between worlds. By that time, none of the original Keyblade wielders who survived the darkness still lived, but some of those of the time period had learned of the power that could be drawn from hearts and they began searching for Kingdom Hearts for varying reasons...few of them good.

"I knew they would discover me and eventually find a way to use my power and my connection to all worlds and Kingdom Hearts, but I did not know how to prevent this. It was only a matter of time and I could do nothing. Thankfully, other wielders discovered the dark plans and several joined forces against them. Yet others joined together with them...at least at the beginning. By the end, I don't know if anyone knew what they were really fighting for."

That haunted expression didn't belong on Sora's face either. Ven almost wanted to reach out and hug the boy...except that would be horribly awkward and he wasn't sure he could handle that at the moment. Xion had no such limitation. She rose to her knees, walked on them over to Sora and threw her arms around him.

"I'm so sorry," she muttered.

He hugged her back and it shocked Ven to see how desperate he looked all of a sudden.

"Thank you," he replied. Ven and Roxas exchanged glances but remained where they were, both grateful for Xion's ability to empathize and show it.

After a few minutes, she released him and sat down beside him as he continued his story.

"Despite best efforts and intentions, a group managed to finally summon me. After that, I was used for the purpose of whoever held me. I had little choice. I changed hands so many times...sometimes I became a weapon for those fighting for the light, sometimes I ended up with those who sided with darkness. Sometimes, I wound up in the hands of someone who just wanted to use me to better themselves. Those...those were the worst, surprisingly. Fortunately no one still knew how to access Kingdom Hearts. Few even understood the concepts anymore, and that is why I am sure that the worlds today are still as intact as they are.

"Eventually I fell into the hands of a group of people who had the best intentions—to stop the fighting—the education to bring those intentions about and the will to do act." Ven noticed that Sora had (once again) stopped talking like Sora, but he didn't really begrudge the other boy for it. Not this time. He got the feeling that this was Sora's true nature they were glimpsing. It wasn't that different from the Sora he knew so well—caring, determined and strong—but the intelligence and experience were something the old Sora could never pull off. Somehow, though, Ven found this comforting right now. He wasn't sure why.

"These people both brought the fighting to a head and stopped the war almost single-handedly," the _X-_ blade went on, "by luring all of the Keyblade wielders to one particular world, and then creating the walls between worlds, effectively trapping everyone there."

"The Keyblade Graveyard," Ven heard himself say in Vanitas' voice. Truthfully, he was surprised himself, but after a moment he figured that really, it wasn't that unexpected. Everyone stared at him for a moment and he shrugged before gesturing for Sora to continue.

Thankfully, he did and everyone turned back to him.

"No one could tear down the lanes between worlds that had already been built, but they did stop anyone who knew how to access the lanes with the walls. This started the final battle of what we now call the Keyblade War. No one meant for it to happen, but the wielders on the planet—many of whom had old grudges and biases—began to fight amongst themselves when they realized they had been tricked. It escalated so quickly... Different factions chose different strongholds, but the sheer destruction prevented anyone from really building much of anything there.

"After observing this, the group that held me began to understand the consequences of their actions and tried to save as many of the Keyblade wielders who hadn't given into the desire to (once again) possess the light—this time, the light of Kingdom Hearts. Unfortunately, due to the fighting, they couldn't save as many as they wanted to. Those they did rescue they helped as best they could. If a rescued bearer wished to join their union, then they could. If not, the keybearer would be taken to a world of their choosing to live out the rest of their life.

"They couldn't act quickly enough to prevent an incredible loss of life, though. Almost all the keybearers died then, leaving only a handful to pass on anything, and fewer still who could access the lanes between. Those that could eventually set up places like Twilight Town and Traverse Town—places that still exist as refuges for lost souls.

"That is how the Keyblade wielders of today came about. Each new generation learns from the old and are chosen far more carefully."

"Apparently not carefully enough," Roxas muttered. Sora sighed but didn't disagree.

"Xehanort, like many before him, fell slowly. At first it was curiosity and then the fulfillment of his goals. Then, over time, it became power and ability and he wanted to live on to find out more. When he initiated his experiment on Ven, it alerted me as to how bad things had become. He basically let me know that he wanted to open the lanes between for everyone—that he was seeking me. The last time that had happened, a war that nearly destroyed all worlds resulted. I couldn't let that happen again, so I did something rather desperate—something I wasn't even sure would work at all: I hid myself, and that is how I came here."

The silence that fell when he stopped talking felt contemplative, and Ven was sure he wasn't the only one who found himself mulling over all of this new information and trying to wrap his head around it. If only they'd known all of this before.

Which actually brought up a good question.

"Why didn't you allow yourself to remember then?"

The frown that came over Sora's face almost made Ven laugh. Almost. He looked so petulant and...well, Sora-like.

"That was my mistake," he muttered. "Human brains apparently don't have the ability to retain memories from past lives very well. It depends on their brain development or something along those lines. I didn't count on that. It was only once Xehanort called out to my true self that the ability to remember returned to me."

Again they lapsed into silence.

"This is just weird," Roxas finally muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. "So am I your nobody, or his?" He pointed at Ven who actually wanted to figure it out too, so he kept his attention on Sora.

The brunet cocked his head. "A little bit of both, I think. Truthfully, I don't know exactly what that entails either way."

"Right. Of course," Roxas muttered.

"Sorry," Sora said apologetically. "New territory and all."

"But it does explain why you're different, Roxas," Xion piped up, a thoughtful expression on her features. "If a being is comprised of two different beings, then they are more or less their own person, right?"

The boys just stared at her as they thought about that.

"Are you suggesting...that Sora and Ven are my...parents?"

Sora and Ven both blanched as they looked at each other and then looked away. That was too awkward for words. Ven wasn't sure if it was in any way true or not, but he did realize that it would also explain why Vanitas wasn't in his own physical form here. Xion and Roxas each had an aspect of other people in them, but Vanitas was half of him, even if they hadn't completely merged and healed yet.

Xion decided to take pity on them and changed the subject. "So, what happens now?"

Everyone else froze and looked at her. Then, almost as one, they all looked back at Sora. Ven hoped he would have an answer, but he couldn't say he was horribly surprised when Sora hung his head.

"I don't know."

They each fiddled where they sat after that, none of them really knowing what to do but none of them willing to admit it. They couldn't. It would feel like admitting defeat to the situation in general and none of them were willing to even entertain the idea. Not after they'd finally eliminated Xehanort's threat.

Finally, Ven sighed.

"Look, why don't we go back and talk to everyone else, see what they think?"

If anything, that seemed to make Sora deflate even more and he looked down at his hands as if seeing something there that no one else could.

"Yeah," he finally said, his voice quiet and resigned. "I guess there's no use putting it off."

Something about the way he said it made Ven frown. Then again, Sora had been saying a lot of very un-Sora like things lately. He was about to brush it off when Xion spoke up.

"Sora, what's wrong?"

The brunet looked over at her and smiled. Ven had never seen such a fake smile in his life. It was another Sora-like action, although not one he particularly approved of.

"Nothing's wrong," Sora said.

"Stop lying," Roxas grumbled. Ven couldn't help but feel relieved that the others had seen it too.

"We've been in your heart for years," Ven heard himself say. It surprised him that he'd spoken up, in his own voice too. "Did you really think you could hide it from us?"

At least Sora had the decency to look sheepish.

"Well, are you going to tell us?" Roxas asked, folding his arms in front of him almost petulantly.

The air of sadness returned and Sora looked down at his hand again. "It's just that...nothing will be the same again. I know that, but...even if I stayed on the Island with Riku and Kairi—even if everything works out perfectly, like we all want them to... I remember so much now. I've known people, good and bad, seen them rise and fall...watched everyone else die. That changes a person. Before I took a human body I...thought I knew what feelings were like, but I didn't."

He glanced up at them, all playfulness gone. "I feel things now that I couldn't as only the _X-_ blade and so much of it had built up. It's...changed me. I'm not just Sora anymore...so can I stay where he would have been happy? And...if I can't, how can I tell them?"

Ven stared at the other being—the _X-_ blade personified—and suddenly realized that no one had taken his recent story into account. Everyone else had focused on their own pain (or even that of the universe at large) and had forgotten that Sora was, right now, a boy with far too many memories that he obviously didn't know how to deal with. Not a day ago, he'd just been 'Sora the Keyblade Wielder'—a boy in his late teens who had saved the multiverse on several different occasions, but a boy nonetheless.

"What makes you think you can't be happy here?" Roxas asked, sounding rather annoyed. Ven blinked in surprise.

"Huh?" Sora asked, meeting Roxas' gaze.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "You have friends here—a girlfriend even, if you want—and they'll be there for you for the rest of their lives, if not the rest of yours. So why not give it a try? It's not like you can't go exploring with them or whatever. If you're different, they'll just have to deal. And knowing those two, they will."

Sora stared at him looking like an animal caught in the glare of headlights. It wasn't like he _could_ say anything to that, so of course he didn't.

Which was why Ven decided to speak up. "He's right. I bet they're up there right now freaking out because we haven't woken up." He smiled at the boy who had saved his life on multiple occasions, because that was who he was talking to, not the weapon who had gained a sentience of its own...although that was a part of Sora now, and so Ven figured he'd just have to get used to it too.

"Heh, thanks, guys." Sora smiled and looked away for a moment. Then he straightened. "Guess we'd better get back then."

Roxas grinned. "Yeah."

Because whatever would come, they would face it—all of them together—and they would defeat it.

xXx

Sorry this took so long. Preparing for Comic Con, while moving and then getting sick on top of it all while not having access to the internet...well, yeah. ^^;

Thanks again, Lexik!


	8. Meeting Destiny

Sora blinked his eyes open and glanced up at the clear, blue sky. For a moment he just laid there on the beach, reveling in the fact that the multiverse felt _right_ again. The darkness was still there, but he couldn't feel it growing anymore...well, not like it had back before he'd taken this form. He wondered how long that would last for a moment before pushing that thought aside. They'd prevented another war and more destruction. It wasn't perfect, but he'd accept that for now.

He withdrew into himself for a minute, enjoying the feeling of his body again, and then he stretched out with his heart, reaching for Kingdom Hearts. To his relief, it was there, sadly full, but functioning properly as far as he could see. For a moment, he paused and examined his link to Kingdom Hearts and had to wonder how he'd missed this before. Then he shook his head and went to sit up.

"Sora!" Before he could make it fully upright, he got an armful of a very familiar girl, her red hair obscuring just about everything else as she knocked him back to the ground with an 'oof'. "You're okay!" she murmured into his neck. He felt a smile crawl onto his face and reached up to wrap his arms around her.

"Yeah, I am," he said softly. "Thanks to you."

"And what about me?" Sora looked up to see an amused (and very relieved) Riku standing over them, holding out his hand. Kairi glanced up at him too and moved onto the sand next to Sora, then rose to her feet as she brushed herself off. Sora couldn't help but grin as he reached up and took the offered appendage that pulled him to his feet. Then he hissed in pain, forgetting that he'd just been in a fight before all of this had happened.

"Hey, man, you okay?" Lea asked.

"Well, I'm not Xehanort and I can move, so I think I'll count that as a win for now," he replied lightheartedly. He glanced over at Ven, who seemed to be in a similar position as he was, surrounded by Terra, Aqua and Mickey.

"Good," Donald said as he waddled up to Sora. Then, using his staff, he hit the teenager on the calf.

"OW!" Sora yelped, stepping away from the duck and pulling his shin up to rub at it. Consequently, this left him hopping on one foot for balance. "What was that for?"

"Getting caught by Xehanort and worrying us all in the first place! Why do you always do stuff like that?!" Sora took note of the genuine relief and the remains of the fear and hurt that he saw on the Duck's face and his own features softened.

"Yeah," he said as he reached a hand up to his head and rubbed it sheepishly. "Sorry."

It felt so much easier to act like 'Sora' when he was whole like this; body, mind and heart all within the same vessel and synched together. He could almost forget the terrible memories that had come with his reawakening as the _X-_ blade.

"Right," Lea said. "How about we make it so that doesn't ever happen again."

Everyone turned to look at him and Sora couldn't suppress a twinge of worry. Lea had the most serious expression on his face that any of them, including Isa, had ever seen.

"How could we do that?" Goofy asked, scratching his head and tipping it in confusion.

Lea looked around at each of them for a moment, and then his eyes focused directly on Sora. "We destroy Kingdom Hearts."

A stunned silence broken only by the repeated waves washing onto the beach fell over the group as everyone processed that. Then everyone spoke at once.

"What?!"

"How can you say that?!"

"What the heck, dude?!"

"You want to what?!"

"What's Kingdom Hearts?" That last one came from Isa. Lea sent an apologetic glance towards him, one that promised he'd explain later, but he had to state his case now. He faced the rest of the group again.

"Look, Xehanort did all of this so he could get to Kingdom Hearts, and apparently it has the power needed to remake the universe how he wanted it, right? So let's remove the temptation." He shrugged as if it were no big deal. He didn't know. Sora knew that. Lea didn't know what he was suggesting. That didn't stop him from clenching his fists, nor did it stop the manifestation of the _X-_ blade's power from flooding through his voice when he spoke.

" **No."**

Everyone turned away from Lea to look at Sora.

After a moment, Lea shook off whatever effect the _X-_ blade's voice had had on him and stepped forward defiantly.

"Why not?"

Sora just looked at him, actually considering what Lea had suggested. The loss of life would be...catastrophic. There were so many people who didn't have nobodies to reunite with. They didn't deserve to be abandoned...but would it be worth it to remove that kind of power from everyone's hands?

No, it wouldn't. No matter how he looked at it. Maybe if there weren't still heartless out there spreading the darkness and destroying hearts, but as long as they still existed, then so should Kingdom Hearts.

And he needed to make them see that.

"Lea," Ven spoke before Sora could. "You don't know what you're asking."

"Well then explain it to me."

Sora sighed. "Alright. You may want to get comfortable. A long time ago, like thousands of years, the worlds as we know it didn't exist. There was only one world..."

He explained everything for the second time noting the different expressions of enlightenment, horror and sadness on each of their faces. For the first time, he also noted, Isa didn't look completely lost. Sora wondered what he, an outsider (who didn't seem to have a whole lot of recent memories if how he acted was anything to go by) would think of all of this.

When he finished, the group sat in a silence that no one seemed to want to break, so Sora decided to say one more thing. He was among friends, and it was something he'd wanted to say for a while anyway, just to get it off his chest.

"Destroying Kingdom Hearts would probably destroy me," he said softly. "I can accept that. If my destruction would save the worlds, then I would gladly do it. But the fact of the matter is, it won't. As long as heartless exist, Kingdom Hearts needs to as well. If it weren't for Kingdom Hearts, you and Isa wouldn't be alive right now," he pointed out to Lea.

"Neither would Kairi," Riku said next, his voice quiet but hard.

"Or me," Terra responded. "And probably Ven." Because Sora wouldn't have been there to save him.

"But," Aqua spoke up, "it allowed Xehanort to take over your body to begin with, Terra, because his heart didn't automatically move on."

Again, no one said anything for a long while.

Finally Sora couldn't stay quiet. "I can't allow it," he finally insisted. "There are too many lives there—too many people. They may only have the smallest chance to live again, but as long as that chance remains, I can't allow Kingdom Hearts to be destroyed." He glanced up at Lea and Aqua. **"I won't."**

The must have seen the conviction in his eyes (or heard it in his voice) because Aqua nodded and Lea sighed.

"Fine, I get it," the red-head muttered. "So what do we do then?"

"We work on curing the heartless," King Micky answered as if it were obvious. "Right, Sora?"

Sora smiled to himself. He knew the mouse would get it. He turned to the little king and nodded.

"Exactly how do we do that?" Terra asked, sounding more than a little skeptical.

"Yes," Isa spoke for the first time. "Isn't the study of the heartless and the darkness what caused the downfall of Radiant Garden?"

Either he was getting his memories back or he was a very fast learner and very good at deductive reasoning.

"Yeah," Micky conceded with a nod. "But we have something they didn't." He turned to Sora. "You have memories of the first experiments, right?"

Sora nodded. "I didn't exist when they were first conducted, but Nomura did. I got some of the memories from him."

"Hmm," Isa said with a slow nod, a finger on his chin as he contemplated that. "And perhaps some more safety measures..."

"But we don't know how long it will take," Aqua said. Sora appreciated that she played the devil's advocate. It kept them on their toes and contemplating everything thoroughly. "It could take years; decades or centuries even. How can we know someone else like Xehanort won't come along and take everything we find out only to turn it against us? We may not be able to stop someone next time."

"What choice do we have?" Terra responded quietly, not looking up. Despite the low volume, everyone turned their attention to him. "We either try, or we wait for someone else to figure out what Xehanort did. Besides," he glanced up at Sora. "We have the _X-_ blade to keep us on track."

"Won't that mean Sora has to stay where we'll be figuring things out?" Goofy asked, also glancing worriedly at Sora.

King Micky looked down. "I'm afraid so. You may not be able to stay here after all," he said to the brunet, gesturing to the island around them. Sora looked down. He'd known something like this would happen—that he'd be leaving what was dear to him behind for an indeterminate amount of time all over again. Still, if it meant that he could help and speed things along—or even just make it possible for them to eliminate the heartless—then he would gladly do it.

"Wait," Isa spoke again sounding confused. "You want to stay here?"

Everyone looked around at the ruin of the island. It made Sora sad to see, but it was still his home. "Yes," he responded, surprised to realize that it was true. Memories or not, he felt he belonged here with Riku and Kairi. He'd been afraid that he'd lose that, but now he saw that it had just been an unfounded fear. He still wanted to be here. He always had.

"Let me get this straight," the blue-haired man said as he closed his eyes and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Sora smiled sympathetically at him. It had to be a lot to take in. "So you're an ancient weapon, or you have the memories of one in any case, right?" Sora nodded. "And you said you are a part of every Keyblade—or at least your heart is." Again Sora nodded, wondering where Isa was going with this. "But you want to stay here even though they may need you elsewhere." A third nod. "Well, can't they just call you like they call their weapons?"

Everyone stared at him, blinking. Then, finally, Sora laughed. Of course it would be the one with the somewhat outside point of view that would come up with the obvious solution. It would take a lot of preparation and they'd have to hammer out the details, but it was a viable option.

"See, this is why you're the brains," Lea muttered, shaking his head with a smile.

"Besides," Riku said, "just because we want to stay here and rebuild the island doesn't mean we can't take a vacation to come and visit. Now that we all have Keyblades, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Right!" Mickey said with a grin. "I'll start preparations as soon as I get back to the Disney Castle."

"Gawrsh, are we going to be studying the heartless there?" Goofy asked.

Mickey shook his head. "I was thinking of setting something up on the world of the Keyblade Graveyard. It's out of the way, abandoned, has a lot of energy we can study and if something happens, no one else will get hurt."

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea," Terra said. "I'd be glad to come and help in any way I can."

"Me too," Ven said.

Aqua smiled. "I guess we're all going then."

"Then who's going to protect the multiverse?" Sora asked.

Lea sighed. "Guess that's gonna be up to me. My own fault, I suppose. I wanted to manifest a Keyblade."

"You can ask us for help, you know," Kairi replied good-naturedly. Lea grinned back at her.

"Well," Micky said as he stood. "I guess it's time for us to head back. I'll let everyone know what's going on." He turned to Terra, Aqua and Ven. "Are you coming with us?"

Aqua answered for them. "Not right now." Ven and Terra glanced at her, surprised. "We need to stop by home for a little bit, I think." Something clicked with both the boys and they nodded sadly.

"Alright. Come to Master Yen Sid's place when you're ready. Or you can stop by the Disney Palace any time."

The trio smiled. "Thanks, Your Majesty," the responded together.

"Gosh, I told you to call me Micky," was all he said, although he did it with a wink. Then he began to walk to the point that would take them to the gummy ship. Sora watched them go, a sadness filling his heart at the changes that would happen—at how different everything would be. And yet, he could also feel hope there. He hadn't been expecting that. He doubted he could express the relief that gave him.

"Bye, Micky," Kairi yelled, waving her hand emphatically, looking for all the world like a little kid that had grown up on an island, and not the keyblade-weilding princess she was. He would be happy to see either side of her, but somehow he really liked her like this. A lot. This was the old Kairi he'd always loved.

"See you around," Riku said loudly. Sora glanced at him, realizing that Riku had turned out completely opposite of Kairi. He'd changed. He'd changed for the better, anyone could agree to that, and yet Sora wished he could take the perpetual sadness in his best-friend's eyes away. Not that he would. Riku had earned that look—the look of the wise. He'd fought for it, and hadn't always won, but had never given up. This was the end result. But yet, Sora still felt a pang of sadness for the innocence lost.

"You betcha!" Micky responded with a nod. Donald and Goofy both grinned back at Sora, Kairi and Riku, knowing they didn't need to say anything else and simply conveying their thoughts with a bright smile. Then they turned to go again.

"Hey," Lea called. The three animals stopped. Lea grabbed Isa's arm and took off after them. "Since Isa doesn't have a keyblade, mind dropping us off at Radiant Garden?"

Isa's head snapped to Lea. "It still exists?"

Lea grinned. "Yup. They're rebuilding it too."

"They?"

Lea's smile widened. "Everyone."

Sora didn't know Isa's face could look that hopeful and innocent—that _light_. The blue-haired man turned to the trio from the Disney Castle and bowed. "Yes, could you please take us there?"

"Of course," Micky replied with a smile. There was a bright flash of light, and then the five of them vanished.

"We should probably get going too," Aqua said, walking up to them, looking far lighter than when Sora had originally found her. "But before we go..." She held out three objects and each of the trio took one of them. They looked like stars or...

"Wayfinders?" Kairi asked as she studied hers. It was pink and red, and yet somehow managed to look regal. Sora thought it suited her very well.

Aqua seemed taken back. "Yes. How did you know?"

"It's a local legend," Riku replied as he finished tying his silver and gold one to his side.

The blue-haired girl smiled and glanced down at her own blue one. "So this is where it came from."

"Didn't you know?" Sora couldn't help but quip. "Everything's connected."

Aqua's smile slowly grew on her face, calm and welcoming and sincere. "I guess so."

"Hey, Sora," Terra said as he came up and put a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Thanks again. For everything."

The smaller brunet nodded. "You're welcome."

"Terra, Aqua, let's go!" Ven said impatiently from behind them, activating his armor. Sora could feel his anticipation and longing for home even now and couldn't begrudge the boy for wanting to leave so much, even knowing how empty it would feel without them there.

"Yeah, let's go home," Terra agreed.

Aqua's smile faded a little. "I have to warn you, it's not the same."

Ven blinked at her, and then shrugged. "Then we'll fix it or we'll deal. Right?"

She blinked at him for a few seconds and then nodded, activating her own armor—the one Terra had brought to her when she'd gone to get Ven. Sora could sense her welcoming the familiar feeling. "Right."

And, completely in synch, the three of them threw their keyblades into the air, and flew off on the respective vehicles they turned into.

Sora, Kairi and Riku watched them go with sad smiles. Then Sora glanced at his wayfinder. It was a light blue and red, playful but unknowingly linked to a story as ancient as the sea itself—something that he felt matched him perfectly. He didn't need it to be connected to everyone else, but he appreciated the thought all the same.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" Kairi asked.

"They'll be fine," Riku responded nonchalantly.

"How do you know?" she asked, tipping her head and looking at her best friend.

"Because," Sora replied before Riku could. "Where your friends and family are is where your home is."

Riku sighed and rolled his eyes. "Stop being so cheesy."

"Hey!" Ancient weapon or not, the childish response slipped out before he could do anything about it.

Kairi giggled at their antics. Then she glanced over at the main land. "What about us?"

"As long as I have you two weirdos by my side, I'll be fine," Riku said as he brushed by her.

"Now who's being cheesy?" she asked. He shrugged. She giggled again. Then, in true Kairi fashion, she jumped up and down excitedly—like they were 12 again and not 17. "Come on! Let's go let everyone know we're back. Then we can all get to work."

"Right," Riku said. "We'll rebuild it better than before."

Kairi and Sora nodded in agreement, and all three started for the dock, noting with pleasure that their boats were still—somehow; miraculously—there and whole. Kairi rushed ahead of them and the two boys watched her with content smiles. Then the red-head turned around mischievously.

"I'll race you."

"What?" Sora asked, unable to help the whine in his voice.

"Are you kidding?" Riku asked with a roll of his eyes.

"Ready?" She asked, raising a hand into the air. Then she brought it down with a harsh slash. "Go!"

For a moment, Riku and Sora just glanced at each other, and then, like lightning, they were sprinting across the sand, racing towards home.

 _End_

xXx

Woot! My second multi-chapter story that I don't plan on seriously continuing is done! Yosh! (By that, I mean that I may have some one-shots later, but yeah)

I'd really like to thank Lexik for helping me out, for Kuroi Atropos who helped me start, and everyone who has read and supported this to now. Yes, this means you. Thank you. :)


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